Kingdom on Mount Cameroon: Studies in the History of the Cameroon Coast 1500-1970 9781782388708

Citation preview

SWEDISH VENTURES IN CAMEROON 1883–1923

Cameroon Studies General Editors: Shirley Ardener, E.M. Chilver and Ian Fowler, Associate Members of Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford Volume 1 Kingdom on Mount Cameroon. Studies in the History of the Cameroon Coast, 1500–1970 – Edwin Ardener. Edited and with an Introduction by Shirley Ardener Volume 2 African Crossroads. Intersections between History and Anthropology in Cameroon – Edited by Ian Fowler and David Zeitlyn Volume 3 Cameroon’s Tycoon. Max Esser’s Expedition and its Consequences – Edited by E.M. Chilver and Ute Röschenthaler Volume 4 Swedish Ventures in Cameroon 1883–1923. Trade and Travel, People and Politics. The Memoir of Knut Knutsen, With supporting material, Edited and with Commentaries by Shirley Ardener Volume 5 Memoirs of a Mbororo. The Life of Ndudi Umaru: Fulani Nomad of Cameroon – Henri Bocquené, transl. Philip Burnham and Gordeen Gorder

SWEDISH VENTURES IN CAMEROON 1883–1923 Trade and Travel, People and Politics

THE MEMOIR OF KNUT KNUTSON With supporting material

Edited and with Commentaries by SHIRLEY ARDENER

Berghahn Books New York • Oxford

First published in 2002 by Berghahn Books www.berghahnbooks.com © 2002 Shirley Ardener All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of Berghahn Books. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Knutson, Knut, 1857–1930. Swedish ventures in Cameroon, 1883–1923 : trade and travel, people and politics : the memoir of Knut Knutson with supporting material / edited and with commentaries by Shirley Ardener. p. cm. -- (Cameroon studies : v. 4) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-57181-725-5 (alk. paper) -- ISBN 1-57181-311-X (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Cameroon--Description and travel. 2. Swedes--Cameroon--History. I. Ardener, Shirley II. Title. III. Series. DT566 .K59 2002 967.11'004397--dc21

2002018269

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Printed in the United States on acid-free paper ISBN 1-57181-725-5 hardback ISBN 1-57181-311-X paperback

TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Maps and Figures

ix

Preface. How I came to edit the memoir Shirley Ardener

xi

PART I

INTRODUCTION – SHIRLEY ARDENER

1.

Biographical Notes on Knutson and Waldau

3

2.

The Manuscript

9

PART II KNUTSON’S MEMOIR: THE CAMEROON MOUNTAINS AND THE BIAFRAN SWAMPS 1.

From Sweden to Cameroon The project of the journey made by Mr. Waldau – Voyage Sweden-Cameroons – My companions – Arrival at Cameroons and Victoria – Settled by Mann’s Spring – Sleep three months in open air – A new species of antelope – Difficult for the Bakweri to live above 10,000 feet – We build four small grass huts – How Bakweri hunt antelope – An old hermit elephant

23

2.

Fauna and Flora Many new species of birds and insects – The flying squirrel – The poisonous pigeon – Some old friends from Sweden – The grassy plains covered with flowers – The flourishing primeval forest – How the natives collect honey – Our garden at Mann’s Spring – The war between Mapanja and Mokunda – Fog day and night – Without food for three days – Competition with my dog Hector – Captain Levin and the author travel over the mountains – Bomana and Bibundi – Capsized in the surf – Difficulties with Buea – Two thieves caught up a tree – A man killed by the explosion of a gun – A Buea hunter killed, his companions shot him – Result of palaver, peace with Buea people – Our pigs keep watch on the leopard

31

3.

Misery and India-rubber Rainy season – The antelopes leave the plains – Short of food and money – Fever – We leave the mountains – True-hearted Mapanja-men show us great hospitality, share house and food – Mr. Gustafsson and the author discover Landolophia Florida [sic],

39

vi

CONTENTS

teach the natives how to collect it – Hard work in the forests – Mr. Ohlsson dies from sunstroke – A new species of elephant – Near death but nursed by my Bakweri-men – India-rubber trade increases – Economy better – We buy large territories from the natives 4.

The German Invasion 1884–1885 The Germans take the mountains in possession – We put our territories under the protectorate of the German Emperor – The band of music on board the German man-of-war ‘Bismark’ plays the Swedish national anthem – Captain V. Kärcher commander on board makes a speech proposing the health of Waldau and me, promising gold and green forests – Many title deeds – On command of His Majesty, Messrs. Leist and v. Puttkamer declare my properties for the Crownland, without giving me any compensation

47

5.

Travel in the Interior 1885 To Barombi ba Kotta and M’Bu – Mr. Waldau rescues a witchwoman – Large herds of elephants – Our route – Yellow Duke – 300 miles in twenty-five marching days – Many new towns discovered – The result of the voyage – The vegetation and the animals – Dr. Schwarz’s expedition – The snake in the bedroom – Dr. Schwarz’s companions sent home sick – Some troubles at Lisoka – Mr. Richardson at Bakundu – The king of Mambanda very ironical man – Demonstration in Ekkelevindi – Native hunters frighten Dr. S – Return to Cameroons – Gustafsson dies during my journey in the interior – The author climbs the small Cameroon peak and Monga ma Loba – Return to Europe with collections, March 1886

55

6.

The Ancient Races Ihle priest caste, Oron and Illoan – the first Bantu Invasion/Barombi, Batekkas, Boobees – The second Bantu invasion, Mocos and Biafframanni – The history of the Biafra – The kingdom Biafra – The Batekka prince who married the Biafran princess – The third Bantu invasion – The Banokko King Berriberri’s twelve sons founded ten still living tribes – The Amboses known as terrible pirates – The Collebungos – Origin of the names Calabar and Rumbi – The Collepeople will soon be only a memory – Fiari people – A Mangrove Swamp people – The trade in the olden times – Cape Coast in 1650 – a Swedish colony – Summary of contents

69

7.

Adventures on Cameroon Mountains and in Biaffran Swamps Meme river discovered – King Bit Bit, King Mussakka of Kumba Lyongo – We erect a factory by his town at Bonge – The rainy season 1888 – Seventy-two hours in a surf boat – The Meme overflows and spoils merchandise – King Mussakka sticks to his word – The rich beggar king at Bokullo – Bombe’s flirt with a Bosama princess nearly cost the author’s life – Tit for tat – Case arranged with a few pounds – A gun fired and a man drowns – Bomboko-men threaten to

79

CONTENTS

vii

burn Bibundi – Palaver settled – M’Boe, the master thief from Batoki – A Bandeng-slave threatens to shoot the author – Two and one-half hours in the sea – The natives and Crumen [Krumen] save the author’s life – A fearful night on the steamer Bibundi – The witchcraft palaver at Sanji-town – A German man-of-war ignites the town 8.

Religion and Customs of the Bakweri and Bomboko 101 Loba, Mokasse and Ovasse – Jengo, Malombi who commar’s [sic] elephants – Waldau and the author rescue several people sentenced for witchcraft – the poor mother of our friend M’Boa [Mbua] Mosikao, I carried her down to the English Baptist mission – She sings poetical threnodies and farewells to her town – A Kumbe slave’s conception of things – Birth – Children – Brothers and sisters – Parents – Education – Marriage – No slavery among the Bakweri – Laws – Punishments of theft and low habits – Laws of blood revenge – Letongo killed – Firearms not allowed amongst the Bakweri and Bomboko during war – The Bakweri at home – Medicine – N’jia wounded by his careless companion, cured by a skilful doctor – The love amongst the Bakweri – Drum signals, a telegraph code system – Anthropophagy – The sacrificial stone – A witchman’s difficult work and his criticism of the white race – A Bakweri man mourns his wife – Guardianship – The song of the Bakweri and Bomboko

9.

The Slave Trade History of the slave trade – King Attokkoro relates about the same – Slave-raids – Slave-ship in sight – Rio del Rey and Ambas Bay in the olden times – The bartering of black ivory – When the slave-ship sailed out of the river – Biafra considered to be one of the largest markets on the West African Coast – Collebonges, Amboses – Statistics – The last slave-ship at Rio del Rey

125

10.

Black and White A cruel customs official – A German philanthropist’s fate – A Victoria-man killed – The poor Popos – The blowing of a whistle – The enemies leave the river – A policeman’s difficulties – Two bullets through the author’s house – Old King Aqua – Insulted – Apology

135

11.

The Missionaries, the Explorers and the Men I met at the Cameroons 145 The useful work of the English Baptist Missionaries – These pioneers were of great importance – Evangelic Missionary Society of Basel – Missionwork should be international – The debt of the white race to the black – Missionary control in Africa hitherto very useful – Without Missionaries no colonization on humane terms – Christmas 1883 – When the hulk ‘Louise’ caught fire – In the olden days – Champagne, cocktails and malaria – The wonderful parrot – King Williams treasure on Nicoll’s Island – A pitiful case – The captains on the steamers – Home and out

viii

12.

CONTENTS

The Future of the Cameroons 159 More humane treatment of the natives. Import of spirits should be forbidden – How it ought to be in the future – The history of the Buea-palaver – von Puttkamer decides to annihilate Buea – v. Stetten and Dominik burn Buea at Christmas time 1894 – Terrible cruelties committed by black soldiers – King Kuva dies – On the ruins of Buea v. Puttkamer builds his residence – Cameroon Mountains ought to be a reserved territory

PART III 1.

LAND AND PLANTATIONS – SHIRLEY ARDENER

Knutson and Waldau’s Contracts with the Notables on the Cameroon Mountain

167

2.

Knutson’s Legal Battles

175

3.

Waldau’s Last Years in Cameroon

189

PART IV 1.

ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVES

About the Ba-kwileh [Bakweri] People G. Valdau (transl. Johan Malmström)

197

Epitome of Waldau’s ‘A Journey to the Country North of the Cameroon Mountain’ Edwin Ardener and E.M. Chilver

211

3.

Sir Richard Burton’s Visit to Mapanja, 1861–1862 (Extracts)

223

4.

George Thompson’s Stay in Mapanja, 1871–1879 Shirley Ardener

237

Stefan Sczolc-Rogozinski, 14.4.1861–1.12.96 Shirley Ardener

241

Hugo Zöller, Journalist (transl. Rosemary Frances, Ena Pedersen, Fiona Moore and Marion Berghahn)

245

2.

5. 6.

Bibliography

279

Index

283

LIST OF MAPS AND FIGURES Maps Map 1: Map 2:

Sketchmap of Cameroon Mountain Area Main towns and villages, modern spelling Sketchmap of the Western Coast and Creeks of Cameroon After sketch and diary notes by G. Valdau and K. Knutson, drawn by A. B. Byoström

2 22

Figures Figure 1: Figure 2: Figure 3: Figure 4: Figure 5:

Figure 6:

Figure 7: Figure 8:

Figure 9:

Chief Liwonjo of Mapanja (Ardener 1998) Chief Liwonjo’s son, Knutson (Ardener 1998) Sketchmap of the new Swedish buildings at Mann’s Spring (Düben 1886) Bakweri house (1870s) (Thomson 1881) Sick and poor Knutson in the middle, Waldau on left © The National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Per Dusén. Masonga Mjoko Man-high elephant tusks © The National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Per Dusén. Tapping rubber [vine] (memoir) KVH factories at Bibundi and Itoki © The National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Per Dusén. King Mussakka of Ekumba Liongo © The National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Per Dusén.

18 18 25 40 41

44

45 80

84

x

LIST OF MAPS AND FIGURES

Figure 10: Part of Mbonge factory overlooking the Meme River © The National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Per Dusén, 1894. Figure 11: Plan of KVH factory at Lobe (1895) (Pouncette 1899) Figure 12: Headman Samson and two of his workers © The National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Per Dusén. Figure 13: Headman of Ekundu Ndene © The National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Per Dusén. Figure 14: Master of Nyangbé ceremony among the Mbonge © The National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Per Dusén. Figure 15: Carl Pouncette (Pouncette 1898) Figure 16: Swedes on Christmas Day, 1890 © The National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Per Dusén. Figure 17: Young women © The National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Per Dusén. Figure 18: House built at Mann’s Spring (1878) (Thomson 1881)

86

86 89

100

109

148 149

198

238

For copying plates 3, 4, 10 and 18 thanks are due to the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Per Wästberg kindly gave the editor a copy of Pouncette 1898; permission to use plates 11 and 15 here was given by Gören Pouncette. Sanna Törneman was extremely helpful in locating and sending, at short notice, invaluable images from the Swedish National Museum of Ethnography collection.

PREFACE

How I came to edit the memoir Shirley Ardener

Knutson’s memoir is of interest because of the rarity of early, first-hand, intimate accounts in English of the people of the Cameroon Mountain area before the turn of the last century. There are none in English from the Swedish point of view by someone who lived for several years in the villages at that time, who spoke the local language, and who hunted and traded. Knutson shows us the great events of the day in Cameroon from the ground, looking upwards, as it were. The interrelations between the many contending groups, Cameroonian and foreign, the thoughts of the chiefs and villagers as they respond to the dramatic events taking place, the critical moments changing pre-colonial to colonial times, are vividly expressed in the minutiae of the daily life he describes. Knutson in his memoir and Waldau in his published articles, give us pictures of the lived customs of the people on and around the Cameroon Mountain who became their friends and trading partners. The memoir, dealing with Knutson’s stay with his friend Waldau, from 1882 to 1896, came my way on a visit to Buea in March 1997. A few days before I left Buea, a copy in the possession of Mr Burnley of Limbe was shown to me privately by Chief Peter Efange. I was excited to see it, since I had long been interested in Knutson and Waldau. In the 1960’s I had seen a note in the Buea National Archives, hand-written in 1884 by Waldau, which said he had ‘bought’ Buea for the German authorities, for a sum in goods valued at less than £25. Despite this highly significant demarche, the impact of which is felt today, the two Swedes were not normally mentioned in Buea then. Their role on the mountain did not figure in the historical accounts compiled from local oral traditions by Paul Kale (1967) and Dan Matute (1988, 1990). I had referred briefly to the Swedes in an earlier publication (Ardener, S.G. 1968) but the full details of their agreement with the elders of Buea setting out the terms of ‘the purchase of Buea’ was not published until 1996, in Kingdom on Mount Cameroon written by my husband, Edwin. Why Waldau had been buying on behalf of the Germans had

xii

PREFACE

remained a puzzle for me. I was not then warmly predisposed in favour of the Swedes, because of what seemed such a paltry transaction.1 However, having read his manuscript, I now see Knutson (perhaps more than his colleague) as liberal for his times, compared to others, and even visionary in outlook. For Knutson came to envisage a post-colonial, independent Cameroon when the mountain would return to the hands of the local population – then meaning the Bakweri and Bomboko people (see memoir, Part II. 12). I was then told that Penuel Malafa, another local ‘elite’, had unsuccessfully contacted Sweden for support for publication, and I was asked if I could help. I agreed to try to edit the MS and get it published.2 It had long been an interest of Edwin Ardener and mine that accounts of historical events by those involved in them should be made available to the Cameroon public, and others interested in the country.3 The night before I left Buea the MS was returned to my hands with a note from Chief Efange (on behalf of Chief Liwonjo and Mr Burnley) saying that I should proceed as suggested. Some months later in Oxford, I was surprised to come across a copy of the very letter written by Pen Malafa lying among my late husband’s papers. Addressed to the Swedish Ambassador in Lusaka, by a circuitous route through Sweden, it had been sent to Oxford for comment by Jan Ovesen, a former student of Edwin’s; the response, if indeed made, was not available. With this find it seemed that the ends of a story had been joined. But another knot in the tangle of connections was soon to be tied. Enclosed with the memoir was a copy of another letter, dated 1978, written to the chief of Mapanja by a Swedish journalist, Per Wästberg, which indicated that he was in touch with Knutson’s son, Bertil. An enquiry via the Stockholm telephone directory, to my surprise, brought forth Wästberg’s name. I telephoned him with a mixture of hesitation and anticipation, wondering whether he would welcome my interest or would draw my attention to possible obstacles to publication. However, Per Wästberg immediately encouraged me. From our long conversation I learned that Bertil Knutson (now dead) had entrusted him with his father’s papers, which he invited me to see. Years ago, Wästberg told me, he had favoured publication of Knutson’s memoir, but this came to nothing. Not to be totally thwarted, however, he drew on Knutson’s material for a novel entitled, Bergets Kalla (1987).4 However, he still felt that there was a place for Knutson’s original English text, and now gave his blessing to my endeavours. This was most welcome. Another coincidence was presented when a friend, Dr. B. Bawa Yamba, came from Sweden to Oxford in June 1999. I opened Knutson’s MS to ask him to translate a list of items hand-written on headed paper of the Zoological Museum of Sweden. He recognized it immediately as part of the MS which had been sent some ten years earlier from the Swedish Institute to the Museum where he was working at the time, asking whether the museum could publish it. The covering letter from Penuel Malafa to the Ambassador in Lusaka was included. At the same time the Swedish Institute had sent a copy to Per Wästberg asking for his opinion. As often happens in such cases, no decision to publish emerged. Dr Yamba now expressed his delight that the memoir was eventually to see the light of day in its original form. Meanwhile Per Wästberg, having occasion to spend a few days at a conference in Oxford, had been to see me, and generously made available to me in Oxford

PREFACE

xiii

Knutson’s archival material, which includes letters from Waldau, and correspondence which Knutson had conducted with legal representatives in Berlin, London and Nigeria in a vain attempt to have his ‘purchases’ of land from Cameroon notables legally recognized. Examples of these contracts, and a summary of his legal battles to have them ratified, can be found below. The story of his land claims throws fascinating light on the morality and manoeuvres of the expatriates – including the German authorities – living on the Coast of Cameroon in those critical times, and on Knutson’s relations with the local Africans. Staff at the Riksbibliotec in Stockholm have been very helpful in getting me photocopies of letters to the press written by Knutson. Johan Malmström, Jenny Collster and Carl Broden gave help with some translations of these and of articles from the journal Ymer. Not only can I not read Swedish; I also needed help with German. For the translation of Zöller’s text I am indebted variously to Rosemary Frances, Ena Pedersen, Fiona Moore and Marion Berghahn. Mrs E.M. (Sally) Chilver has diligently kept her eye open and has sent me notes on some relevant items. She also kindly passed on to me some references Ute Röschenthaler came across in Germany. In return I give some cross-references to their own book which gives a German view of events connected with the plantations until the First World War, Cameroon’s Tycoon; Max Esser’s Expedition and its Consequences. This text is the translated and annotated edition of an account by Esser of his expedition in Cameroon to recruit labour with help from the Bali. It gives further details on the forest areas between the coast and grassfields of Cameroon. I also refer to two books already in this series, Edwin Ardener’s Kingdom on Mount Cameroon, and African Crossroads, the volume dedicated to Mrs Chilver and edited by Ian Fowler and David Zeitlyn, which will amplify the picture, and to Ardener (S.G.) 1968, as I know these books are available in Cameroon. Among others whom I should mention must be Gay Cohen, for reading the manuscript and for saving me from certain errors. Bob and Carrie McIntyre were always on call when I needed advice and practical help with my computer. Dr Ian Fowler, being a well-known Cameroonist scholar, generously gave his attention both to detail and to making a number of valuable editorial suggestions. Finally, I had the benefit of the skilfull copy-editing of Judy Mabro. The MS I received from Mr. Burnley was an old photocopy of a typescript done on an old typewriter, with a few hand-written corrections. It included some photocopies of old photographs, which have been included here. In Oxford, after clarifying some of the words and names, and supplying missing letters, I had the MS typed by Joan Peacock. Not all of the text was perfectly legible, and here and there some assumptions had to be made regarding spelling and missing words; some guesses have been put in square brackets. There was a strong temptation to edit Knutson’s language thoroughly to conform to more conventional English. But, while some tidying up has been done for ease of reading and to avoid misunderstandings, by and large his own Swedish-English, influenced at times by pidgin or Creole English, has been left in order to let his authentic voice come through. Unlike a translation where the original text is widely available to scholars, this is the first time this text has been printed as written. I felt it necessary, therefore, not to epitomize or cut, even where I have misgivings as to his accuracy or judgement,

xiv

PREFACE

or where there is repetition. The main editorial changes have been in paragraphing, which was almost absent, and punctuation, which was inconsistent and did not follow modern conventions. Consequently, although the sentence order has been retained, sentences have been grouped into paragraphs for ease of reading. Knutson (like other authors quoted here) was inconsistent in his spelling of words (e.g. palm tree, palmtree and palm-tree), and personal and place names. Unless the latter were obviously the result of mistyping, rather than risk guessing, some of the inconsistent spellings of names and places have been retained. However, a few exceptions have been made. Throughout this book, the people now commonly known as Bakweri, and the Bomboko, who figure prominently in this text are here so called, rather than by Knutson’s (and others’) terms for them. Also the spelling Kru, for the immigrant labourers, has similarly been standardized throughout to avoid confusion. Only a few prominent personal names have been standardized: Mbua (Knutson’s M’Boe) of Mapanja, King Attokkoro (variously spelled) of Oron, King Kuva (sometimes Knutson’s Cova) of Buea, King Njeka (Gecka) of Mbinga (Bwenga), and King Mussakka of Ekumba Liongo. Having spent some years on the Mountain, I have a little knowledge of the area about which Knutson wrote, and had met some of the descendants of those with whom he had lived. But there is no substitute for local knowledge, and Chief Efange of Soppo, in consultation with Chiefs Efesoa of Bonjongo and Liwonjo of Mapanja, kindly helped me confirm the identity of some of the villages, and their notables, who are mentioned in the MS, and clarified some Bakweri text. Their suggestions are found in square brackets. However, with these exceptions, to avoid risk of false identifications, variation in terminology is usually retained, as explained in the next section. Besides the memoir, other materials from Knutson’s archives are given here (personal letters, legal documents, and printed papers) in parts II and III of the book. In addition extracts from published sources relating to the same events or places described by Knutson have been included in Part IV as they confirm, or sometimes give different versions of, these events. It would have been possible to attempt to conflate the memoir, the documents, and the alternative views, and come up with a synthesis. But, the aim of this volume being to provide primary, ‘warts and all’ material in a way which makes the reader feel contemporary to those events, the whole text of the memoir, in its original ordering, is provided. Primary sources enable the personalities and predispositions of the players in historical events, which to some extent determine their course, to be given weight when interpreting ‘the facts’. Readers, and scholars with local knowledge in particular, will, I hope, take this material further. Finally, I am only too aware of my lack of Swedish, and my ignorance of the Swedish contribution in Africa, and of time and space constraints. This is certainly not the final word on the Swedes and those they met.5

Notes 1. It seems even stranger now I know that Zöller had offered £300 earlier (see p. 263), only to have negotiations break down.

PREFACE

xv

2. Knutson dedicated his memoir to the people of Mapanja. In a letter to Chief Liwonjo, sent from Sweden with the MS, permission to publish was given by Knutson’s son, Bertil. I first met Chief Kongo Liwonjo in 1998; his enthusiasm, trust and co-operation since has been greatly appreciated. I arranged that any royalties arising, though certainly not likely to be large, should go to him, as representing the family into whose hands Knutson’s son had entrusted this MS. 3. Edwin had issued from the Buea Archives Office a short series of booklets, written variously by him, E.M. Chilver, P.M. Kaberry, Margaret Field, and myself, in the 1960s, mainly to fulfil this function. This was also the methodology adopted by Edwin and me when we wrote, for example, Eye-witnesses to the Annexation of Cameroon (1884–1887) and Kingdom on Mount Cameroon in the 1960s (though the latter did not get published until 1996). 4. Per Wästberg has a long list of publications in Swedish, including twelve novels, as well as having edited some collections of papers in English. In his Cameroon novel, he invented a contemporary character, a diplomat, supposedly the grand nephew of Knutson and heir to Knutson’s papers (in fact a bit like Wästberg himself, who was all but adopted by Bertil), who visits Mapanja where he finds further material in a box. Wästberg said that in fact Knutson did state that he had left materials with the chief of Mapanja, but there is no sign of them today. Since he was presenting Knutson’s story as fiction, Wästberg was free, of course, to use his art to flesh out Knutson’s material with imagined conversations, with invented persons, and invented episodes. 5. There are many loose ends, which time and place – not to speak of language – prevent me from following up. My friends in Cameroon have been waiting too long for this book. It is hoped that the memoir, and the material in which it has been framed, will give them and others some idea of the importance of the Swedes and their ventures, even adventures, on Mount Cameroon from pre-colonial times to the beginning of the League of Nations’ Mandate, enough at least to stimulate further research. Note that the reported actions and the opinions expressed by writers quoted here are not necessarily endorsed by this editor. Good or bad, they speak for themselves.

PART I

Introduction Shirley Ardener

Map 1: Sketchmap of Cameroon Mountain Area. Main towns and villages, modern spelling

2 SHIRLEY ARDENER

CHAPTER 1

Biographical Notes on Knutson and Waldau

Knutson (29.11.1857–22.12.1930) and Waldau (17.10.1862–27.12.1942) Knut Vilhelm Knutson was born in 1857 at Sjonjd farm outside Vanersborg in the Province of Vastergotland. The small manor house where Knut was brought up lay some 20 miles Northeast of Göteborg. Per Wästberg (see Preface) has traced the family back to about 1600. He reports that more recently – in the early nineteenth century – some of its members became quite important officers under the first Bernadotte king. Knutson was unmarried at the time of his departure to Cameroon, though he had already met his future wife, Amanda, daughter of Knut Leidberg. She was from a neighbouring estate, about five miles away at Ulfstorp. Unlike Knutson’s family home, his wife’s is still occupied by relatives. Knutson and Amanda produced one son, Bertil, and one daughter. Knutson was, first and foremost, an adventurer. The books written by the early European explorers of Africa had, according to Knutson himself, ‘caused a great sensation especially amongst the West European youth’ (see memoir). These stories had inspired Knutson to try to join the Stanley expedition to the Congo, but in vain. His brother-in-law, Professor Jacob Eriksson, then put him in touch with another young man whose plans for Africa were well advanced, George Waldau, who had been born in Melbys district. According to Wästberg, the end of the nineteenth century was a period ‘when it was hard for young men in [Sweden] to find work, especially in the countryside. Knutson and Waldau were students, well educated both in business studies and in the natural sciences.’ Unemployed, may be, but as the memoir explains, each was able to take with him a manservant; sad to say, both of these died on the Cameroon Mountain. Knutson, said by Wästberg to be then a student, was later to be described as a former landowner and a wholesale merchant. Moreover he probably had had military training. Both Swedes were proud of being good shots, but the young German journalist Huge Zöller especially noted Knutson’s essentially military outlook. Indeed, Knutson refers to a toast the Swedes made ‘in our usual military way’ (Part II, 11).

4

SHIRLEY ARDENER

On arrival in Cameroon Waldau and Knutson settled on the upper slopes of Mount Cameroon and hunted for food and collected specimens, but when hunger and illness caught them, they moved further down the mountain, to Mapanja village, and turned to trade for survival. We have a detailed description of the conditions under which they lived in the account of Zöller, who arrived in Mapanja in January 1885 with Herr Stehr, the German agent of Woermann’s trading company at Bimbia. They found that Knutson and Waldau were away on a trek, but their Swedish companion, Gustafsson invited them into the house: There, there was an enormous number of hunting trophies, horns, furs and so on, as well as weapons of all possible systems and calibers. Against the walls are structures like divans which are covered with cloths and which are of the type natives use as beds. Here too, as I later discovered, they serve as beds and the frames were made of imitation wood. In the middle stood an absolutely enormous table around which, since there were no chairs, trunks and boxes were set. A side room to the left, or perhaps one should say a partitioned section, which was covered with carpets on the boards, contained the small storage space from which a small window provided with a table acted as the counter. That’s from where the native trade goods were sold. Small [Bakweri] boys, cute as monkeys, acted as servants and assistants, and were busy also in the kitchen, which was in the house next door. (Zöller 1885: 177)

When hunting failed them, and almost at the end of their resources, as is well known, quite fortuitously the young Swedes (all in their twenties) discovered the wild rubber vine1 growing in the forest. How this significant event happened is now clarified in the memoir. They soon saw its potential for commerce and the advantage of acquiring land rights from the locals. In 1890, with consul (sedermera generalkonsul) Otto Heilborn in Sweden, they established a business called Knutson, Waldau and Heilborns Afrikanska Handelsaktiebolag. The order of the names is probably significant, and one is tempted to assume that Knutson invested more money in the business than Waldau. He was also the elder of the two, and Zöller certainly pictures Knutson as in the more dominant role. Oddly enough, Knutson does not once mention the name of this business in his memoirs, perhaps because it went bankrupt seven years after it was established. Once established in business in Cameroon, Knutson and Waldau opened a number of collecting and trading points, known as ‘factories’, on the beaches and riverbanks. The manner in which they negotiated with the chiefs is well described in the memoir (see especially II, 6). The symbols on the map provided here, based originally on Waldau’s sketch, possibly indicate roughly the placing of their ‘factories’. Fascinating details of their trading practices, including mishaps, are given (ibid.). As they expanded their work, Waldau returned home for a visit to get helpers. Wästberg explains that, through their circle of friends, and via different acquaintances they recruited people of the same age who were skilled in different crafts: carpenters, machinists, sea captains, bookkeepers and administrators. What was particular about almost all of them was that they came from Vanerbygden and Varaslatten. This was where some already-famous Swedes who had experience in Africa came from, including Charles John Andersson who discovered Lake Ngami and the River Okavangi in Namibia and Botswana, and Alex Eriksson from Vanersborg, who explored Damaraland in the South Afrika of that time, and great bold-hearted personalities who had great influence over the others: the

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON KNUTSON AND WALDAU

5

bear hunter Lloyd, and the conservator Gustaf Kolthoff, who later founded the Biologiska Museet in Stockholm. (Wästberg, in Pouncette 1989: 6)

Knutson characterizes ‘the young Swedes engaged by us as almost all brave and fearless’ (memoir). Among those recruited in 1892, on a three-year contract, was Carl Johan Pouncette (born 15.4.71), who left Göteborg aboard the steamer Rollo on 3 February 1893, with Captain G. B. Carlmark from Karlstad; among the passengers were Fridolf Pettersson from Lundby and Klas Johansson from Ulfstorp. Waldau met them at Liverpool, where they transferred to the Benguela. After the end of his three-year contract, Pouncette (together with Pettersson and one Svenson) returned to Sweden. Sadly he died on 16 April 1896, but he left behind him some day books which a relative, Nils Pouncette, has edited into a small but valuable booklet Ett Afrikanskt aventyr, 1987. In this publication we are given some details of trading life at Lobe, of the business which employed him and of its eventual bankruptcy. Knutson’s memoirs are not a work of scholarship, nor by a hand with great literary skill. He did not wield power, with vast resources at his command, nor was he backed up by an imposing organization, whether administrative, military or commercial. Men with these resources, including Zintgraff, Esser, Dominik, Puttkamer, Seitz and Kemner, among others, have all produced German versions of local events, some of which are noted in the bibliography below. One value of Swedish recollections of this period of great social, economic and political change in Cameroon is that, not being members of the great naval and commercial powers of the times – the Germans, British and French – the Swedes were as neutral as any expatriate of those days was likely to be. Their comments are therefore particularly welcome. And in a small community of expatriates, they were necessarily on familiar terms with others from abroad in various walks of life. They arrived in Cameroon just before imperial rule came to it in the form of the German Protectorate, and they became involved in the turbulent negotiations between the various chiefs and powers of the day. They were not entirely without their own political aspirations, however, for Knutson dreamed of establishing a colony in Cameroon for his own countrymen2 – as various Englishmen had done before him (see Ardener, S.G. 1968, for examples), and as did the Polish patriot Rogozinski, who competed with the Swedes (see below). But the Swedes, like some other adventurers before them (op cit.) did not have the support of their home government. Forestalled by the Germans, who did support Zöller, the Swedes decided to co-operate with them, in the hope of securing personal commercial success. Despite their relative powerlessness, at a significant moment or two in the history of the annexation of lands by the Germans, Knutson and his colleague Waldau played a key part. For a short while, he and Waldau were at the heart of events in Cameroon. They may even have changed the course of that history. It may have been because Knutson felt that those he trusted had manipulated him, and that his role had not been acknowledged, that he so vigorously conducted his later legal battles over land. He may well have felt duped. Zöller’s account of the help Knutson gave him makes that understandable (see Part IV, 6, below). For Waldau, an accommodation with the Germans was achieved; Knutson was embittered by the experience.

6

SHIRLEY ARDENER

Meanwhile Knutson and Waldau undertook explorations, and Knutson published an account (given more briefly in his memoirs) of his climb up to the summit of the Cameroon Mountain. It appeared in the scholarly Swedish journal, Ymer (1885), as ‘Ein bestigning af Kamerunbergets stora pik’ (‘A Climb to the big peak of Mount Cameroon’) and is not included here, as the essentials are covered in the memoir. Knutson also wrote long letters to the Swedish press (for example he described his climb of the Small Cameroon Mountain in the Aftenblatdet of 24 April 1886). Knutson left fewer scholarly writings than his younger colleague, the student Georg Waldau, who was already a member of the Svenska Sallskapet for Antropologi och Geografi (the Swedish Association for Anthropology and Geography), which Knutson was to join only later. Waldau wrote several long pieces in Ymer, the titles of which I give here in English: 1885: 271–301. A Journey to the land north of the Cameroon Mountain 1885: 163–77. About the Bakweri People 1887: 219–30. New Trips to the land north of the Cameroon Mountain 1888: 138–68. Report from Mount Cameroon I 1889: 97–112. Report from Mount Cameroon II 1890: 135–43. Discovery of Lake Soden 1892: 113–27. Journey to Ngolo-land 1892: 132–52. Journey from Ndian Factory through Ngolo, north Bakundu and over the Rumbi mountain to Bonge factory Knutson’s rich descriptions of village customs were paralleled by Waldau’s paper ‘About the Bakweri People’ included here (IV, 1). As they spent so much time together, and had access to each other’s writings, they do not differ greatly in subject and approach. It seemed useful, however, to include here a translation of Waldau’s ethnography; any overlap offers confirmation of Knutson’s observations. There is no space in this volume to reproduce in English all of Waldau’s interesting texts on his travels in Cameroon, which he mostly undertook with Knutson. However, the first of Waldau’s papers, about his trip inland, was translated into German and published (as by Valdau) in Bremen. An English epitome is provided below (Part IV, 2). I hope that his, and other Swedish texts, including those by Düben and Dusén, will be made available in English soon. Particularly interesting is the picture the Swedes draw of daily life in Mapanja village before the turn of the century. We do have an earlier description by Sir Richard Burton, who stayed in the village in 1865 on his way to and from the summit of the Mountain; this, and the later description by George Thomson, who stayed in Mapanja for about six years, from 1873 onwards, are included in Part IV for comparison. It is unusual to have three intimate accounts of life in one African village in the nineteenth century. Some readers might like to turn to the two short descriptions of Mapanja provided below, before reading Knutson’s later and longer account in the memoir. Zöller’s description of the Swedes’ dwelling has already been mentioned. He also gives us a vivid account of the turbulence surrounding the Swedes’ land transactions, which he witnessed, and of the ceding of

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES ON KNUTSON AND WALDAU

7

territory to the Germans. This alternative view, which can be compared to Knutson’s, adds valuable detail which Knutson omits, and increases our understanding of those events (see Part IV, 6). In his diary Knutson gives high praise to Waldau, who sold his rights in their joint holdings of land in Cameroon to Knutson in 1899. This was two years after the bankruptcy of Knutson, Valdau [sic] and Heilborns Afrikanska Handelsktiebolag, which took place in 1897 (Pouncette 1987: 68). It is noted that although Waldau conducted the negotiations regarding winding up the business, only Knutson and Heilborn signed the papers. Perhaps at that time Waldau was in Cameroon or at Santa Cruz or elsewhere. Waldau came to face the inevitable political facts, and, although he intermittently assisted Knutson in his legal claims, he eventually collaborated with the Germans. His services were used by the huge concession company, the Gesellschaft Nord-West Kamerun, which was set up in the autumn of 1899, in which he became a shareholder (see III below). He continued to manage plantation estates, even after the British forces appeared during the First World War after which, for a while, he even administered the estates on behalf of the Custodian of Enemy Property. We do not yet know exactly when Waldau left Cameroon, although we have some knowledge of his activities up to 1923. He made two visits home to Sweden, before finally settling in the Canary Islands. Long before this, in 1896, Knutson had resettled in Sweden. He had married Amanda and had established his family in Stockholm, living comfortably in a house of fifteen rooms. Wästberg described to me Knutson’s dwelling in Stockholm which his son Bertil occupied until his death at the end of 1930. It had remained unchanged since Knut had lived there. Knutson had filled his house with African artefacts, and stuffed birds and animals, as he had done in Mapanja. They were comfortably off; Amanda had inherited some money on her side and they could employ private teachers for Bertil and his sister. Knutson started a wholesale company importing tropical goods, including spices and the like, which he sold to the local retailers. He and Waldau apparently sold to the Riksmuseets Zoologiska Afdelning 315 specimens – mainly skins and skeletons – of the fauna which they had collected (which, together with the cost of transport from Mapanja to the Kamerun River, was assessed as worth 2035 Kroner). According to Wästberg, Knutson, and later his son, were pioneers in introducing prefabricated wooden dwellings. One wonders whether his African experience had inspired this innovation in Sweden. Wästberg felt that none of the few relatives Bertil had, on either side, was noticeably interested in Knutson’s African adventure, which they did not see as especially successful. It is unlikely that they would have been too pleased by the time and money Knutson expended during the rest of his life in seeking recognition of his rights in Cameroon. Meanwhile, despite his legal battles, as outlined below, Knutson maintained a rich social life and kept up his interest in Cameroon by founding a small dining club which often met in his house, or elsewhere. It included, among others, a botanist, a zoologist, a musician, and another merchant; the gathering discussed birds, museums and the like and listened to music. He also occupied his time writing his memoir. This was probably intended for publication, and although Wästberg drew upon it

8

SHIRLEY ARDENER

for his novel, that did not come about – until now. Knutson died on 22 December 1930.3 Waldau outlived him by twelve years.4 Bertil had no children, his wife and his sister are also now dead; further, the latter’s only child, a daughter, is also dead.

Notes 1. According to enquiries made by Chief Efange, this rubber plant was probably the vine called veyoma in the Bakweri language (mokpe). Knutson gives it as Ladollphie Florida [Landolphia?]; Preuss propagated Kikxia in the botanic gardens at Limbe until Hevea was found to give better results. 2. Knutson’s thwarted ambitions for a role for Sweden are intriguing. Sweden had no colonies. Back in Sweden Knutson sent a letter to the Swedish foreign office suggesting that the Germans be officially approached with a view to setting up some kind of protectorate. Per Wästberg said to me, ‘the government quickly buried the letter’. In considering Knutson’s frustrations with the Germans, one cannot help remembering the similar disappointment of Eduard Schmidt, on whose deals with the chiefs the German administration’s colonial legality depended. For Schmidt left Cameroon in disgust and determined to ‘live henceforth in a British territory. So he settled down in Lagos... and vowed he would never again set foot on German soil...’ (Ardener, S.G. 1968: 47, quoting Thomas Lewis who had met Schmidt in Lagos). 3. See obituaries in G.H.T., 22.12.30, Swenska Dagbladet, 27.12.1942, Nya Verlden (1942/43?) 4. See obituaries.

CHAPTER 2

The Manuscript

Knutson finished writing his memoir during the First World War.1 Some of his opinions clearly reflect this. He writes freely, in retrospect, but drew on his daybooks contemporary to the events he describes. According to Johan Malmström, who translated some texts for me, even Knutson’s writing style in Swedish in his published paper is less formal than Waldau’s. The axe Knutson and Waldau had to grind was kinder than were those of the German administration, and of the military and the employers of labour, who helped each other to achieve their various goals. Knutson makes a good claim for himself and Waldau being, more than most expatriates, on intimate terms with the indigenous population of the Cameroon Mountain (the Bakweri, whom they recorded as Bakhiviris or Ba-kwileh (the Swedish ‘v’ being soft), and Bomboko, see footnote 30) and its immediate hinterland. This acceptance by the native population is confirmed from the German preamble to a translation of one of Waldau’s papers from Ymer reproduced in the Deutsche Geographische Blätter, (Bd 3,1886, pp.30–34, 120–41). In this text Georg Valdau [sic] is described as a student (aged 21 in 1883) and Knut Knutson as a former landowner (being five years older than Waldau). It states that, when perplexed by the political changes taking place in 1884, the local people turned to the Swedes ‘who now spoke their language and who had by their behaviour earned their complete trust: this went as far as giving them extensive land without compensation’. Not only did Knutson – and presumably Waldau – speak Bakweri but, according to Knutson, Gustafsson also spoke it fluently, as did some of their other Swedish employees (e.g. Pouncette, see below, and Bovallius). Because of their close relationship with the villagers, Zöller, eager to annexe the mountain area for the Germans, spent a sleepless night before meeting the Swedes, so very anxious was he to get them on his side. Knutson frequently writes of his friends among the people, admiring their intelligence and wisdom, and at many points contrasts their practices (discipline, medical procedures, demeanour, songs and legal practices) favourably with those of Europe (see, for example, II, 8). Waldau’s attitude to the locals seems at times less

10

SHIRLEY ARDENER

sympathetic (IV, 2). The intimacy the Swedes established with local villagers was, from their earliest days, learnt from their acute dependency on them. Their Bakweri host in Mapanja, Mbua Mosekao [Knutson’s M’Boe Mosikao] and in particular Mbua’s mother, who saved their lives when they were ill, ‘poor as rats’ and almost starving to death, made an impression upon them which they never forgot. The tribute Knutson pays to this lady, and later the story of her sad exile as a witch, make moving reading (II, 8). Mbua figures prominently here as guide and interpreter; both Waldau and Zöller spelled his name thus (IV, 1 and 6). He is probably the Mbua Mocki who was witness to some of the Swedes’ land claims (III, 1). Knutson writes ‘I found so many pleasing traits of philanthropy in the people of Mapanja I have as a small reward for all the good and humane service they showed Mr. Waldau and me when poor and sick, dedicated this my book ‘to the Mapanjapeople.’’ This memory bore fruit in 1978 when Knutson’s son, then 80 years of age, sent a copy of his father’s memoir to Chief Liwonjo, with his permission to publish. The present Chief Kongo Liwonjo’s direct grandfather was Wotany wo Liwota, brother of the Mosaso mo Liwota who signed a treaty with Knutson.2 Chief Kongo Liwonjo himself formerly worked for the Cameroon Development Corporation, which at the time of writing still manages most of the plantations in the mountain region. This is a situation which his forefathers and their neighbours could not have envisaged when they permitted the Swedes (and later the Germans) the use of their land, for what can only appear as a token of acknowledgement. The story of these land acquisitions, which still concern many today, throws interesting light on international relations over the next 50 years. Besides the account which Knutson gives of the manner in which the Swedes obtained rights to land, we are fortunate in having the independent eyewitness account by Zöller of some of these transactions. The relaxed demeanour of the more experienced Swedes is in sharp contrast to Zöller’s frantic, rough methods. Indeed Knutson’s good-humoured contempt, perhaps appropriate in a military man, for Zöller’s fear, and, later, for that of Schwartz, are made clear in the memoir. Zöller had the advantage of a journalist’s skills, and he includes many details which Knutson omits. He also had other purposes behind his actions and accordingly interprets events differently. Hence his witness, though valuable, is not unbiased, especially in his attitude to those who thwarted him. The consequences of these transactions are still felt keenly today by the Bakweri descendants of those Kings and Chiefs who befriended Knutson and Waldau. For the Bakweri themselves have never ceased to protest about the alienation of these lands by the Germans and those who succeeded them. For comments on the so-called ‘Bakweri Land Question’, see, for example, Matute (1990, chapter 9, pp.124–46) and Molua (1985). As I write, however, most of the descendants of those who made their marks on the land contracts are probably as yet unaware of all the historical details provided below. The Bakweri Land Question has taken a new lease of life recently as the future of the plantation lands are under national and international consideration; besides discussions in Cameroon they are being now actively debated abroad on the internet newsletter known as Camnet. The Bakweri Land Claims Committee has its own website (www.bakwerilands.org). If the former Bakweri lands are privatized, and come under new foreign ownership, as is rumoured might be the case, we can imagine Knutson turning in his grave!

THE MANUSCRIPT

11

Knutson and Waldau were proud of their country, and on occasion were pleased, as they saw it, to impress other expatriates by wearing Swedish hunting dress. They drank Swedish punch, hoisted their national flag, and they obviously grew to have a vision of a prosperous future for Swedes in Cameroon, a hope rudely disappointed, as the text tells, by the arrival of the Germans. As might be expected, his fellow countrymen come in for sympathetic treatment, especially Knutson’s companion Waldau (always referred to by him formally as Mr Waldau, never Waldau or Georg) and the two servants who accompanied them, J.A. Gustafsson and Richard Ohlsson (sometimes spelled Gustafson and Ohlson, and aged 18 and 27 respectively when they arrived). Nevertheless, Knutson went out of his way to be even-handed, for in his memoir he admits that far from always being heroic some of his countrymen behaved – according to his standards – badly, and some Germans (e.g. Nehber) behaved well. There were (surprisingly for me, for their presence has been comparatively neglected in the English-language literature) quite a number of Swedes on the West Coast of Africa at the end of the nineteenth century. For example, thirteen Swedes were listed as members of the Stanley Expedition up the Congo – the expedition that Knutson tried unsuccessfully to join. In 1883, at a Christmas party given in Douala by Woermann’s agent Eduard Schmidt, the four newly arrived Swedes were among the guests, little knowing that Schmidt was soon to play a large part in the annexation of Cameroon, to the dashing of some of their aspirations! Present also were ten Germans and, outnumbering them, fifteen Englishmen. These were not the only Europeans in Cameroon then, of course, but the preponderance of English among the expatriates would probably have reflected reality. However, some time after this, as already noted, Knutson and Waldau were employing Swedes in their business ventures, and they also had a number of Swedish visitors, including Waldau’s cousin, Levin. The success of Knutson and Waldau’s ventures are attested by the number of trading points listed in the Kolonial-Handbuch of 1896, compiled from official sources by Rudolph Fitzner, which provides us with a census of expatriates in Cameroon. The Swedish presence around the mountain is given thus: Douala – Factory of Knutson, Valdau and Heilborns Afrikanska Handelsaktiebolag (no staff being mentioned); Man o’War Bay (Kriegschiffbucht) – Kamerun Land-und Plantagen-Gesellschaft (KLPG), Hamburg. 3 Germans, 1 Swede; Manager – Frederici (earlier Teudt); Debundscha Plantation – owned by Linnel & Co. (cocoa). 2 Swedes; Bonge [Mbonge] – 1 Factory owned by Knutson, Valdau and Heilborn, 1 by Ambas Bay Trading Co. 1 Swede, 1 English;3 Bavo – branch of K.V. & H. [no personnel given]; Lobe – K. V. & H. factory. 1 Swede; Bioki – K. V. & H. branch. 1 Swede; Moko – K.V.& H. branch. 1 Swede; Rio del Rey – (Customs Post, Postal Agent here) Branch of K.V.& H. (consisting of huts of bamboo and mangrove poles, plus a corrugated iron storehouse). 2 Germans, 2 Swedes; Ndian – branch of K. V. & H, and of Ambas Bay Trading Co. 1 Swede.

12

SHIRLEY ARDENER

This gives ten Swedes. Yet fifteen are given as the total number of Swedes in Cameroon; possibly the missing five are women and children, or they may have been seafarers (pilots), servants, or visitors.4 The opening of Swedish factories at Ekumba Lyonga (on 5/2/1888, being managed by G. Linnell) and Bonge [Mbonge] (under Bovallius, on 10/3/1888) is described in the memoir. Pouncette built up the Lobe factory. At some time Waldau’s wife joined him on the coast. She is mentioned once, briefly, by Knutson as living in Debundscha – possibly after Knutson himself had left. Though she and Waldau could be the two Swedes in Debundscha mentioned above, so far I have not found her name in print, although her presence in the 1920s is acknowledged in a file name on a list in the Buea archives. Knutson did not have a wife with him in Africa. Throughout the memoir, but especially in his penultimate chapter (II, 11), Knutson gives pen portraits of many of the other members of the ethnically mixed expatriate community. With exceptions (e.g. Soden), it was the farmers and officials who were criticized. Those with whom Knutson felt he shared most in common were the missionaries and the traders, of all nationalities. They, like Knutson and Waldau, depended for their success on the goodwill of the local people. They therefore maintained good relations with their local contacts and tried to defuse conflict by tact rather than by imposing solutions by force. Commendably, Knutson often names his informants, which notably include ‘his special friend’. King Mussakka of Kumba Lyonga, King Mosingi [Mosenge5] of Soppo, King N’diba Ekoa of Bonjongo, and his friend named M’Boe or Mbua Mosekao [Mbua Mosika6] of Mapanja, his guide and probably his witness for the sale of land, who became well known to the Germans. Indeed Zöller treated him very badly (see IV, 6 below). Some other personalities of local people come through clearly, like that of his wily co-conspirator, King Dualla of Oron Battekaba [Batoki (Isangele)], who helped him establish trading posts. There is also the historically minded King Attokorro of Oron with whom he shared wild speculations about the past, the dignified King Njeka of Binga [Bwenga (Mbinga)], King Mottutue of Sanje (Sanji), as well as less prestigious, but no less interesting characters, like his hunter friends and the contented slave at Kumbe. Knutson felt he was trusted by the famous King Kuva of Buea and by the influential Letongo. On many occasions Knutson saved people from punishment, or aided those that received it. He helped a man pass the sasswood poison ordeal, for example (see below). On the other hand, at times, Knutson’s (and Waldau’s) writings are far from what today would be considered as ‘politically correct’, or socially or morally acceptable. He tolerated the beating of a ‘witchman’ whom he felt was evil (see Zöller, IV, 6, for a comment on this event). Knutson and Waldau speak disparagingly of the attempts by chiefs to prise out of the Swedes what they saw as their entitlements to fees, earned for assisting them in their travels, also for providing water and food, for supplying guides and, probably more important, imparting valuable local knowledge. Some chiefs, of course, were well versed in negotiating with Europeans (see Burton at Mapanja, IV, 3 below) and probably with Africans from Calabar (Waldau, IV, 2). Indeed there was a long tradition on the West Coast of Africa of merchants paying ‘comeys’, which can be seen as commissions, or customs duties. The tradition continues to some extent even

THE MANUSCRIPT

13

today, not only in the form of legal custom duties and licences, but in the ‘dashes’ companies sometimes pay to those that assist them – business expenses which can be seen as fair recompense for services rendered, or as corrupting bribes, depending on the degree of secrecy and privilege involved, and the public interest. Today, as formerly, all over the world private enterprises recognize the value of information given, and services rendered by local middlemen, in the form of seats on the Boards of Directors, fees for public relation or other expertise, and the like. Discursive primary sources, such as those here, throw light on the reality of everyday negotiations between expatriates and the village leaders, who would be expected by their people to use their debating skills to acquire wealth for redistribution among them. Waldau gives a telling description of the Babinga ‘King’ who, though trembling in every limb, persisted in obtaining for himself and his people (for they were consulted) the fees he felt appropriate for their services. This was quite courageous since, as Waldau explains, the chiefs on his route knew the party was well provided with the most sophisticated weaponry, which they made sure the locals knew the power of (IV, 2); as we have noted, their hut was a veritable arsenal. Far from admiring the chief’s bravery and tenacity as a negotiator in the face of these well-armed strangers, he is described as greedy and grasping! The highly respected Soppo chief, Woloa, was characterized as a beggar, and not only by Waldau and Knutson but, it seems, by Ndibe of Bonjongo. Waldau says that the bigger the King the more he begs. Naturally! The more important a man, the higher his fees – whether in Cameroon in the last century, or in Washington or London today. Nevertheless, compared to the treatment of poor Mbua, and other Africans, by Zöller, the Swedes look comparatively benign; their distaste for Zöller’s behaviour towards the Africans is apparent even in the latter’s own account. But think of the impression Knutson and Waldau would have made on the locals! The gap in wealth, between overseas visitors to the mountain area and many of the resident community, is almost as wide today as it was in Knutson’s time. Recently the Cameroonian social anthropologist, Dr Nyamnjoh, when collecting material on local views of expatriates, came across a student’s description of the Whiteman as ‘a wallet on legs’. No doubt that was how Knutson and Waldau who – even if at times ragged, probably ate meat every day – appeared to those they met. It would not have been a comfortable position. Any visitor from the richer countries who is on mutually intimate relations with local residents in a relatively poorer country cannot but be aware that this stereotype, and the reality of the inequality of wealth, can press uncomfortably upon friendships. It is hard not to hope that the visitor can meet all needs, or at least ‘this one’, and difficult for the visitor not to feel depersonalized by the demands. It requires a mutual understanding that was difficult for the Swedes then, as it would be for Swedes today. Knutson and Waldau with their long acquaintance with the community would know what local fees would normally be. Their harping on the greediness of chiefs does not read well, but probably reflects the Swedes’ difficulties in coping both financially – given their precarious balance between survival and success – and with interpersonal relations. The contrast then between traders’ prices and those of liberals, such as the missionaries (cf. Zöller), is echoed today in the fair trading debates between traders and NGOs, such as Oxfam.7 It was easier for

14

SHIRLEY ARDENER

them when the Swedes had fewer direct competitors; Knutson’s account of how he established trading points up the creeks, and his descriptions of his relations with the local chiefs and traders make particularly vivid reading. Unusually for the time, Knutson provides much material on women. He recognized the affection felt for mothers, wives and daughters, and notes that they were sought for wise advice. The Swedes’ interest in and attitude towards women, probably also reflects those of Swedish men in their twenties. They admired girls when they were young, but thought their beauty faded quickly with age. They did not like the way they plucked their eyelashes (Waldau IV, 2; Burton IV, 3) – but then that is not admired by many today; certainly the Bakweri no longer do it. Indeed the Swedes found much to praise regarding the Bakweri way of life. There is a delightful, even cosy, picture by Knutson, confirmed by Waldau, of the warm, almost affectionate, attitude of Bakweri to their domestic animals, as they snuggled together to share the comforts of the house at night. As an amateur ethnographer, Knutson’s records of Bakweri ‘laws’ are particularly interesting. He did not separately publish any ethnographic material in scholarly journals – he left that to Waldau (see Part IV, 1 below). Of most value here, of course, are Knutson’s accounts of processes which he personally witnesses. Examples are the sasswood ordeal, the practice of slavery, and various legal disputes in which he was involved, including those with Kuva the famous King of Buea (referred to by Knutson as Cova). His colourful accounts augment in a most useful way the information gathered by the early visitors from Germany and Britain in colonial times, and amplify the data found in the ethnographic texts by Edwin Ardener, Dan Matute, and others. Many minor details given by the Swedes are new. I do not remember learning from elsewhere that Bakweri women did not eat the meat of chickens and pigs, for example, nor of the use by men of false beards. Although his memoir was drafted between 1912 and 1917 or ’18, as noted, Knutson drew upon his ‘day books’, written while on the Mountain. Helpfully, the Swedes often dated the practices they saw happening in the 1880s and 1890s. Times are changed, and nowadays much Bakweri ‘law’ is inevitably reported retrospectively, as tales from the past.8 Not everything noted was based on Knutson’s own experience, of course. Unfortunately, some material presented is probably a compendium from several sources, and in such cases, regrettably, Knutson does not always distinguish clearly between material on the Bakweri collected from the heartlands around Mapanja or Buea, from that collected from the Bomboko to the west of the Mountain.9 According to one Buea tradition, it was from Bomboko country that the early Bakweri settlers came in the eighteenth century (from circa 1750, see Ardener, E.W. 1956: 24 and 1996: 47–50). Given this connection there are, unsurprisingly, similarities in their traditions, though these are not always identical in detail or in terminology. Today there are, of course, contested theories of origin; some people from Soppo, for instance, advance an alternative route for their people.10 As noted, Knutson and Waldau certainly do seem to have acquired some fluency in the local languages. So, apparently, as his own memoir states, did at least one of their employees, Carl Pouncette who was stationed at Lobe. As with Knutson’s spelling of names and places, Carl’s orthography of those snatches of Mokpe

THE MANUSCRIPT

15

which he provides reflect his Swedish pronunciation. Rendering the Bakweri language, Mokpe, offers even linguists some problems, as indicated by Connell in his edition of Edwin Ardener’s vocabulary, where he notes (p. xi) that Mokpe has as yet no agreed orthography. The most controversial problem for Bakweri speakers is how the voiceless and voiced labial fricatives should be represented, and how to handle tone marking.11 Thus Sofo, which is closer to the local pronunciation, is found as Soffo, (or Sopo in Zöller) or, more commonly, Soppo, and Mafanja commonly as Mapanja, and we find Wonjongo and Wolifamba commonly spelled as Bonjongo and Bolifamba. These Duala-ized forms12 are to be found adopted officially, and are seen on maps, and the like, of different dates, including those currently available. Early, linguistically untrained, Europeans struggled to represent the local languages in a variety of ways. Reading Knutson’s or Waldau’s spelling of Bakwhiri or Ba-kwileh, where nowadays we use the spelling Bakweri – and their renderings of other referents, words or expressions – we remember that the Swedish ‘v’ and g are soft and pronounced like an English ‘w’ and ‘j’. Knutson’s ‘j’ was pronounced like the English ‘y’. The problem applied, of course, not only to Cameroon names; Waldau is the spelling commonly used by Knutson throughout his memoirs, and I have retained it. But Waldau is also often referred to as Valdau (the more common Swedish spelling), and he even sometimes published under this name in Ymer, as well as under Waldau, which he used when he published in German. Similarly Waldau/Valdau is sometimes Georg and elsewhere George.13 From time to time a modern spelling of a Cameroon name, term or phrase has been added to the original text, in square brackets. Advice on interpreting Knutson’s Mokpe quotes has been given, in some cases, by Chief Efange of Sofo/Soppo.14 Knutson, as noted, was not always consistent in his spelling of personal and place names, often giving several renderings. Moreover there are different spellings in other authors drawn on here. I have normally chosen to retain those found, occasionally giving alternatives, or the modern term in brackets or in an endnote. Modern spellings, where identifiable, have been used in the index; they were taken from the Buea-Douala Map (NB-32-IV) published by the National Geographic Centre (Yaounde, 1987); see also map 1 overleaf. It has been difficult for me to confidently identify all the usages for people and places from afar. Local scholars and others will no doubt be able to make identifications. In Ardener, E.W. (1956) the reader can find the list of Bakweri villages (with a spelling which reflects the local pronunciation of the residents at that time – for example Mafanja, for Mapanja, Gbea for Buea). He gives their relation one to the other, and a map showing their location today; similar material on the Bomboko (Womboko), Bimbia (Isubu) and Wovea is included. Dan Matute also provides a list of villages, as well as names of chiefs and elders in the political structures established during the colonial period, and leaders of other economic and socio-political institutions, in his two books (1988 and 1990), both of which provide valuable corroborative and comparative information. While Knutson’s descriptions of those practices which he witnessed have an immediacy which encourages confidence, we certainly cannot rely on some of the historical material gathered from his reading and from discussions with the chiefs. We do not know how much the chiefs were influenced by his own enthusiasms,

16

SHIRLEY ARDENER

expectations and line of questions. He had certainly read some of the older historical source material, whether in the original, or through secondary publications. We also know that some people of Victoria (now Limbe) were literate – Mr Brew had his own library. A few Cameroonians, notably Manga Bell at Douala, had been educated in England. The missionaries and elites of Calabar were not far off. The chiefs themselves might well have heard of some of the theories floating amongst interested expatriates and Africans on the coast at that time. The section on the early waves of migration is particularly suspect and muddled up. But after having thought about omitting it or placing it apart in an appendix, I have left it in place in the body of the text, adding a cautionary footnote (as an exception, as most editorial comments can be found as endnotes). Particularly problematic is his attachment to the history of the ‘Bafaramen’ who are variously spelled as or collapsed with the Bafarame, Biafframanni, Biafframani, Bafaramani, and Bafarmame. Knutson seems to have been at pains to link the Kumba people at Ikiliwindi with the ancient ‘Biaffra’ people, having read of ‘Biaffra’ from Dapper. Edwin Ardener sums up the position regarding the origin of the term Biafra, pointing out that Bouchaud (1952:170–71) has shown the probably purely graphic development of the shadow region of Biafra from the Mesche Mons of Ptolemy. From this Biafra emerges as a ghost name, deriving from a series of misspellings (Bouchaud 1952, Ardener 1968/96). Here I have retained the various spellings used by Knutson, as it is very difficult to give one a priority over the others. The Bafaramani, according to E.M. Chilver, were people named such by the Balong or Douala, who lived either side of the Mungo, through which the inland trade passed. They probably included Bakossi and some Balong. Zeuner considered Nyassoso, which he visited in November/December 1888, to be the ‘major village in the Bafarami district’ (see Chilver and Röschenthaler 2001). Knutson’s discussions of connections along the Coast, collected from King Attokkorro of Oron in particular, also arouse grave misgivings. Again I give an academic health warning to readers, as this is an historical quicksand into which it is easy to be drawn and fall victim of nonsense. But I have left Knutson’s and his interlocutor’s musings, because, at the very least, the lengthy exchanges give us some idea of the kind of discussions taking place in Cameroon at that time. Knutson certainly collected some interesting speculations and traditions, not all of which may be assumed to be false, and further consideration, by those on the ground today and other scholars, may yet re-evaluate this evidence. Knutson’s writing does confirm that historical speculation, sometimes verging on the fanciful, is by no means only a recent practice! Knutson’s intimacy with slaves, and what we might call indentured debtors, and with employees, provides us with another glimpse of their lives at the end of the nineteenth century. But his historical account of slavery drawn from his reading, and from discussions with King Attokkoro, cannot be uncritically relied on. Those interested in this history should turn also to more recent scholarly writings (see memoir, editorial endnote (p. 133); the new research being conducted on slavery in Cameroon at the University of Buea, and elsewhere, is bearing fruit (see Fomin and Ngoh 1998). The historical memories of their grandfathers reported by King Attokkoro, King William Junior of Bimbia and Mrs Collins Williams of Fernando Po might have

THE MANUSCRIPT

17

greater validity. Greater validity. The treatment of slaves by some middlemen and European and American makes grim reading (see II, 9). There remains the problematic of Knutson’s land ‘purchases’, about which more below. A German comment (Deutsche Geographische Blätter, 1886), made after discussing the co-operation offered by Knutson and Waldau to the Germans – with how much choice, and with what promises, are moot points – says that after the annexation, ‘given the changed economic situation, [the Swedes] now had better prospects before them than in the past’. This is a view Knutson (who was under a certain duress) would not have endorsed for long! Zöller’s independent account below of the Swedes’ negotiations is worth turning to when this point of the memoir is reached. If at first the Swedes had high hopes, Zöller’s behaviour would not have encouraged them. Further, Knutson soon became frustrated with the German administrators, whom he had expected to sanction the legal claims he felt he and Waldau had on their tracts of land, and his sense of injustice burned deep. Perhaps the Germans’ strict application of the law was reinforced by the Swede’s unpopularity, as a ‘nigger lover’ (memoir). If Zöller illuminates the memoir, Knutson’s personal accounts of already documented events (the amusing, if unprofitable, trip with Schwartz to Ikiliwindi, for example) add useful confirmation or sometimes give a new slant on those events. Knutson’s popularity with the Germans was, it seems, not helped when he castigated certain German officials and farm managers for their treatment of the local people. He wrote home giving information about the death of one local man at the hands of an ill-tempered German, as is evidenced from a note in his files: Translations of letters from Mr. Knut Knutson in Africa to Consul Otto Heilborn in Stockholm, during 1887-88. Mokundange 23/11 1887 In Victoria it’s worse. A German has killed a Mapanjaman without the least reason and all the tribes on the mountains are furious and would walk down to kill the German whose name is Jüürs. A German Man of War is there to protect him and await the arrival of the Governor. The man had come to trade and was troublesome and then Jüürs took a big stick, flogged him on the head and the neck and afterward threw a big stone at his side. The native man died after 2 days. It’s terrible. I cannot understand what the German did think about.

Writing from Bibundi on 22 December 1887 Knutson informed his partner that they had withdrawn [from] Mokundange in consequence of complications and palaver to the account of the manslaughter committed by one Clark by the firm C. Woermann in Victoria. Mr. Jüürs killed a Mapanjaman without the least reason, who had came [sic] down to trade. He died after 2 days and the natives would now demand bloodrevenge and threatened Mr. Linnell in Mokundange. I was in Mokundange and then I wouldn’t risk the life of Mr. Linnell I withdraw and took all things from there.

Seven months later the dispute dragged on. A note headed ‘Bibundi 30/7 1888’ reports that: the Mapanja people try to get hold of Nehber, who probably, if not soon a man of War arrives, … The rascal Jüürs is not yet punished and the consequences will not fail to

18

SHIRLEY ARDENER

come sooner or later. I spoke to B. the [Mapanja] King’s son who declared that with the Englishman and Swedish he has no palaver, but German must pay or deliver Jüürs.

Nevertheless, Knutson tries to balance his criticism of certain German behaviour by giving praise where due – for example, to his ‘hero’ the aforementioned German trader Nehber who, though popular among villagers at the coast, was fatally speared to death in battle when he accompanied an expedition up to the Cameroon grassfields early in 1891 (see memoir). Knutson also notes his respect for Governor von Soden, and for the trader Mr Stehr. The ‘Victorian Gentlemen’ (who were trading competitors besides being proBritish), from what is now Limbe, come in for some disparagement from both Knutson and Zöller, but Knutson makes an exception of some, for example Sam Brew. Both Waldau and Knutson provided sketch maps of the areas through which they passed or worked, which were used as a basis for maps in Ymer by Dusén. They did not have the most up-to-date astronomical technical equipment for pinpointing their positions.15 To balance possible errors, data collected by others were

Figure 1: Chief Liwonjo of Mapanja (1998) (Ardener)

Figure 2: Chief Liwonjo’s son, Knutson (1998) (Ardener)

THE MANUSCRIPT

19

sometimes incorporated into the maps which drew on their material. Though the early maps cannot be used uncritically they do usefully indicate the knowledge of the day. In order to substantiate their claims to land, the two Swedes invited P. Dusén to chart their claims. Dusén (1894) includes six photographs (two used here); most of the pictures in the memoir were originally taken by Dusén. To conclude: The foregoing provides background to Part II of this book, The Memoir, which now follows. Part III considers in further detail Knutson’s and Waldau’s contracts with the chiefs and other notables, copies of many being made available here. Knutson’s legal battles, for which some of his correspondence with London, Berlin and Lagos, as well as with authorities in Cameroon, is given. Finally, some account of Waldau’s last years is provided. Part IV of this volume consists of other texts, some in translation.

Notes 1. His son said in his letter to Chief Liwonjo that it was in 1912, but internal evidence suggests it was finally finished after the end of the 1914–18 war. 2. Chief Kongo Liwonjo had five brothers, all now deceased, (the most notable being Chief Cosmas Liwonjo who became District Officer of Muyuka, and who died in 1985). As the Chief told it to Chief Efange and myself in March 1999, Mosaso mo Liwote was the second son of Liwote. His son was Moki Etonge Mosaso, whose son was Alphons Liwonjo Konge. Lyonga la Moky (an alternative spelling for Moki) and Wontany (an alternative spelling for Wotani) wo Moki, acted, successively, as regents, until 13 March 1970, when the present chief was installed. The present Chief has named his son Knutson (pronounced Kutson). 3. Was this Mr English (see memoir)? 4. In January 1896, out of the European population of 233, 157 were Germans, 33 British, 17 Americans, 15 Swedes, 3 Russians, as well as one Australian, an Austrian, a Belgian, a Spaniard and one Swiss. The three ‘Russians’ were probably Baptist missionaries (according to E.M. Chilver). The Poles Etienne Sczolc (Scholtz) Rogozinski (who sometimes referred to himself as of the Russian navy), and his companions, Janikowski and Tomscek, might have been listed as Russian; they were three controversial Polish travellers who got involved in the ‘scramble for Africa’, but Tomscek died in Africa, and the others had probably left Cameroon by 1896, see Part IV, 5 below on Rogozinski, and also Ardener, S.G. 1968: 42–43, 60n.96. Chilver notes the surprisingly large representation of Americans, who were probably mostly missionaries, stationed along the coast to the south, and that the early international interest in Cameroon is well established by these figures, for which she refers us to Fitzner 1896: 93–4 (c.f. Chilver and Röschenthaler 2001). 5. Zöller’s Mosinje. 6. Waldau specifically translates Mbua’s name as ‘Rain’, (the alternative spellings M’boa or Mboe are clearly unhelpful, since they would suggest ‘settlement’ or ‘town’ (see Part IV, 1). Mbua was obviously a significant actor, with a mind of his own; although he was badly, even brutally, treated by him, Zöller (q.v. IV, 6) nevertheless came to a better appreciation of him and recommended him to Buchner. He was a saviour to the Swedes.

20

SHIRLEY ARDENER

7. ‘Café Direct’ is one product supported by NGOs designed to benefit growers at the expense of middlemen. 8. When publishing Edwin Ardener’s vocabulary, collected in the ’50s and ’60s, it became clear that young men in the ’90s did not recognize some terms confirmed by the older generation as correct. 9. In recent years the Bomboko have been less numerous than the Bakweri. For example, in 1953, according to the census, there were 15,581 Bakweri (=Vakpe), 1911 Bomboko (=Womboko), 140 Bimbia (=Isuwu) and 555 Bota (=Wovea) people, while some 372 Bakweri and Bomboko were living in Cameroon outside their heartlands (E.W. Ardener 1956:14). This gives some idea of the balance of population between these groups over forty years ago. The present populations are very much larger, of course, though distinguishing the autochthonous population from settlers who now outnumber them on the mountain is difficult. For example, there are many intermarriages. 10. The late Essaso Woleta argued for a different provenance for Soppo, and had his own views on the relations between Buea and Soppo, where he lived, and their early occupants. Passionately interested in history, his style was, at times, somewhat polemical, and possibly his interpretations were not always disinterested – but whose are when there are political implications? It was a great tragedy when a fire destroyed his large accumulation of papers. 11. The symbols ‘f’ and ‘v’ could lead to an English-like pronunciation uncharacteristic of Mokpe (which is sometimes rendered as Mokpwe or Mokwe). However, Connell eventually followed Edwin Ardener’s use of ‘f’ and ‘v’ for want of a better solution. From my own experience I found that there seems to be quite a variation among speakers according to village origin, age and education. In modern times there has been a tendency for ‘f’, a voiceless labial fricative, to be sharpened (partly under the influence of the Duala language which was encouraged by the missionaries) to ‘p’. Similarly the Mokpe ‘w’, a voiced palatal approximate, is frequently replaced by ‘b’. Hence Edwin recorded Chief Liwonjo’s village as Mafanja, where it is commonly written Mapanja, and Chief Efesoa’s as Wonjongo, though it is written Bonjongo. 12. According to Connell the ‘p’ and ‘b’ forms are closer to the Bantu root forms, Mokpe having evolved further, so the modern use of ‘p’ and ‘b’ (for ‘f’ and ‘w’) might possibly represent a regression; Mokpe could also be influenced by modern familiarity with the written word. For Edwin Ardener, usually ‘kp’= implosive ‘p’, ‘gb’ = implosive ‘b’ – hence, for example, Bwenga (Mbinga) = Gbenga. 13. A Swede suggested to me that the name Waldau is of German origin. 14. The o in Sofo or Sopo comes close in pronunciation to the o in the English word softly. 15. Dusén, Ymer, 1894:77, estimated that they overestimated distances by 30%, having only hand-held, out of date equipment; Dusén therefore incorporated other material into his map.

PART II

Knutson’s Memoir The Cameroon Mountains and the Biafran Swamps Dedicated to the people of Mapanja

Bateka

ey l-R

Ri

o

e -d

Bioko Itoki

EkunduNdene

Ndian

Baji villages

Ekumba Ndene

Kumbe BongaMeme Malumba

EkunduEtitti Lobe

Baromni-ba-Mokono

Barombi villages

Liongo Betikka-ba-Ende Bungo Bonjarri Ekumba Bondschi Bamuso Balundu-ba-Boa

Ikassa

Lake Soden (Barombi L)

Foe River

Bakundu villages

Map 2: Sketchmap of the Western Coast and Creeks of Cameroon. After a sketch and diary notes by G. Valdau and K. Knutson, drawn by A.B. Byoström.

Oron

afi aJ Archibongs

Aku

Isangilli

ian

Nd

5° ———

M e me Riv er

22 KNUT KNUTSON

CHAPTER 1

From Sweden to Cameroon

Thirty-forty years ago there was a strong wave of enthusiasm for exploring Africa rolling forward over the West European countries. Some breakers of the same reached so far as up to old Sweden, and amongst those who were caught in the surf were my dear old friend George Waldau and the author. The reason that this wave, year from year at the end of the decade of 1870, began to roll more and more strongly was because of the contents of the excellent literary works written by Livingstone, Capt. Burton, du Chaillu, Charles Andersson, Stanley, J. Wahlberg, de Brassa [Brazza], Baker, [Emin] Pasha, Nachtigal,1 Wissmann and others it would take too long mentioning. The very interesting accounts... given in their books, in which they had described the wonderful animal and plant-life, the customs and life of the natives, the fabulous richness of the country and the many adventures, which during their explorations the travellers had met with in Africa, caused a great sensation especially amongst the West European youth. The unknown has always had a very great attraction for the youth, and in defiance of all difficulties, which everyone knew would meet him, nothing could prevent a young man who once had been caught by the real love for Africa from going there. I tried to get employment with the expeditions of Stanley to the Congo and of de Brassa [sic] to Gaboon, but although I had some very good letters of introduction from men in high social position here in Sweden, it was very difficult to obtain any place. The best qualification for receiving an engagement with these expeditions was to be an officer in the army or a sailor. Any other man would not have very much chance. One day I received a letter from my brother-in-law, Prof. Jacob Eriksson of Stockholm, in which he told me that a young Swedish student, George Waldau, intended to explore Cameroon-territory and that when he heard that I intended to go to Africa, he asked my brother-in-law if I would join him. A few days afterwards, in August 1883, I received a letter from Mr. W. with regard to the matter and so we met and arranged that we should share profit and loss out at the Cameroon. No agreement between us was signed, but we shook hands that we

would keep true to each other in danger and need, and I am glad to say that we did so indeed. The project of the journey to the Cameroons was made up by Mr. Waldau and he alone has the honour of having worked out the scheme for our journey with the most detailed and systematic calculations. If these could not always, owing to circumstances, be carried out, it was not his fault. There are so many unknown factors which are met with in Africa and which change the calculations made at home. So we are now very busy in making preparations for going out by a German steamer the ‘Aline Woermann’, sailing from Hamburg, in the middle of October 1883. But as I could not get any money before the first of November, and I did not wish to borrow any, I was obliged to wait till the next steamer sailed, on the 15th of November. It was our luck, because the above-mentioned steamer was wrecked, men and all, on the Dutch banks during a fearful storm. We went out with the ‘Professor Woermann’ where on board we met a German Expedition which was directed by the well-known traveller Lieutenant Wissman who, together with some officers, v. Francois and Müller, would explore the upper Congo district. On board the steamer there were daily shooting matches with saloon-rifles and I may say that we Swedes were much superior to the Germans in handling the guns.

My Companions George Wilhelm Waldau was born in 1862, and when we went out was a young student. He had a very great love for Africa, which never has decreased, and he had just chosen to explore the Cameroon-territory because he knew that this Mountain, both in regard to zoology and botany, should be of very great interest, having three different zones. 1) tropical, 2) a subtropical and a 3rd) alpine. He had carefully studied the literary works of Burton, Comber, Grenfell and Buchholz. He was a very truehearted and good companion and I have given him my highest acknowledgements at the end of this book, amongst all the explorers of the Cameroons, so I do not need to say any more in this chapter about him. Mr. Waldau had a servant with him by the name of Richard Ohlsson, a very good and hard-working man, born in [? 1855] and a gardener by occupation, a very strongly-built man, and trusting to his strength and good health he had determined to follow us. I will in the third chapter give particulars about him. My servant was Mr. J.A. Gustafsson, born in 1865 near where I had my home in the middle of Sweden. He was a very intelligent young man, with a great interest for studying, and a very good shot. In the fourth chapter I will give a character of him. I will not mention the life on board a passenger steamer bound for West Africa during 1883, as at the end of this book I will give full particulars of the same. We reached the Cameroon river on the 23rd of December 1883 and stayed there only three days, when we took passage with all our luggage on a small cutter belonging to the firm C. Woermann and bound for Victoria, which place we reached on the 27th of December 1883. I may add that we had bought a great deal of cloth, beads, tobacco, powder, shots, lead etc. in Hamburg, and that the Director of the Museum,

FROM SWEDEN TO CAMEROON

25

Goddfrey Poeh, had assisted us very much when we purchased all the different things we needed. We had a letter of introduction from the President of the Geographical Society in Stockholm, Professor v. Düben,2 to a missionary, Quintin Thomson, at Victoria, wherein he asks him to render us as much help and assistance as possible, but the very same day we arrived in Victoria Mr. Thomson died.3 We now had to engage some carriers and start for Mapanja or Boando to climb up the mountains to Mann’s Spring. We tried to go over to Mapanja but the King Mossasso put so many difficulties in our way so we decided to take the route over Boando.4 The old road up to Mann’s Spring over the Boando territory is much longer than over Mapanja and had not been cleaned up for three or four years, so we had very hard work to get up to the grassy plains. By Mann’s Spring we settled down and built first three small grass houses for our collections and boxes and after three months a large house where we four white men lived. Now we began our hunting, collecting and exploring life, and quite in the same way as the Natives. Our meat we had from animals which we killed by our guns. We never ate any bread, but roasted plantains, yams and cocos [= cocoyams] which was our food. Instead of butter we used palm oil. We had the finest water in the world at the spring, and we felt proud to be the only white men on the whole coast of the African Continent who were living at such a high altitude. Such a country as the Cameroon Mountains I have never seen, it was really wonderful. I will in the following chapters give some views of the same and also

Figure 3: Sketchmap of the new Swedish buildings at Mann’s Spring, now abandoned (Düben 1886). Redrawn by Shirley Ardener.

26

KNUT KNUTSON

a photograph [not available] of the animal on which we lived a very long time. The first antelope I shot was not very far from Mann’s Spring. I had only been two or three days up on the mountain and although I had a slight fever I took with me two black men, Mbua and Molla, to try antelope-hunting for the first time in the Cameroons. I had several guns but preferred a very good American Winchester (repeating), which had been used in 1876 in the Russian Turkish War and which is still in my possession. We were just following the tree limit down in the west direction when I saw a good-sized antelope standing at a distance of sixty yards. But the bush was so high that I could only see the neck and head of the animal. I shot him through the neck. It was an old beast and one of the biggest I killed up at the Mountains. We hunted the antelopes mostly by placing ourselves behind some rocks or hills and shot them in the morning and evening when they went from the forest to get their food on the grassy plains. In February and March the grassy plains were covered with the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen, and in a following chapter I will describe the same. It seemed curious to me that the Bakweri,5 who up to 8,000 feet move without difficulty and perhaps easier and quicker than white men, when they reached up to the said height were not able to follow us Swedes. I noted several times on our hunting trips, that as soon as we came to the alpine region, 8,000-10,000 feet in height, my black companions were very often attacked by palpitation of the heart and that the beating of their pulses was much faster than my own. They always complained about the pain and pressure on the eye socket and in the corners of the eye, and very often they asked to rest and go down again. They said that ‘Loba’ (the Bakweri’s God) don’t like that black men cross ‘His home’. They panted very much and their lungs worked in a way which made me fear that they would get pneumonia. I believe that the lungs of the black men are not shaped for living a long time above 4,000 feet and there is no native town on the Cameroon-Mountain situated above the last mentioned height. The Bakweri hunters very seldom stay more than two weeks up the Mountains, and some of them die of pneumonia during their stay. I remember in April 1884 when a rain of ice and snow came so suddenly that many of the native hunters had no time to reach the huts or caves, that they died like flies. I fancy also that some days the tightness of the air up at the height of 7-10,000 feet has a great difference, which I could notice by the fact that, five-six times, up at the mountains we felt it much more difficult to respire and our lungs worked much faster than during normal circumstances. I am quite sure that scientific research regarding this matter would be of great value. As far as I know, the Germans have not had a station on the highest part of the mountains. At the end of March we had our four small grass houses ready, and in the biggest one we had made it as comfortable as it was possible here in the wilderness. In the middle of this house which had but one room we had always a big fire burning night and day. The smoke went up through the grass roof. Everyone of us had his fixed week when he should clean the house and cook the food, prepare the hides of the antelopes and the skins of the birds. In the meantime the other members of our party were out hunting and exploring. Although our house was very small and low, only seven feet high as to the walls, and ten feet on the ridging and twenty feet long,

FROM SWEDEN TO CAMEROON

27

the same was now our home and when we came late in the evening with a heavy antelope on our backs streaming with perspiration and tired, it was with great pleasure that we saw the cook for the week – his name may have been Waldau or Gustafsson – prepare the nice antelope meat fried in palm-oil with some boiled yams or plantains. We had cut some big lumps of timber on which we sat inside the house round the fire when eating but we also went outside when the weather permitted and sat down on a tree, cut down in the time of Burton or Comber. So we had now left all kind of comfort in the West European style behind us, and we felt quite satisfied to be out of the vicinity of the white race and their methods of civilization. We lived here a very natural life without newspapers and had no social or war questions. We never used alcohol, except when ill, and we had only to think of food and to make collections. Early in the morning we had a good plunge in the clear water of the celebrated spring, and some took roasted plantains, some smoked antelope meat and another took a bottle of water, all of which was put into the shooting bag and then we started before sun-rise to meet the coming day. The way of the Bakweri in hunting antelopes has never been described by any white man, before me, and that I believe for the simple reason that no white man has been able to follow these people during their hunts in the bush or the mountains. There must be a long period of training before the white man can reach the stage of perfection which the native has acquired in regard to hunting. There is no doubt that in the sporting life all depends upon a certain constitution and on the process, but without daily training, nobody can arrive at a good result. However there are amongst the natives in Buea or Mapanja not more than 10% of the men who are skilful antelope-hunters.

* * * * * Extract from my daybook from April 1884 It was early in the morning, the sun had not yet arisen when my black fellow traveller, Molla Mosingi, and I silently felt our way through the half darkness over the slope of the high mountain to the grassy plains. We had to go a long distance out of our way to be able to reach the shooting place at the glens near the wide grassy plains, where we placed ourselves behind the rocky peaks facing the edge of the wood. The antelopes very often stood by the same and kept a sharp lookout. The slightest sound or unguarded movement was quite enough to spoil the happy result of the shooting. Huddled up behind a block of lava stone I was awaiting the daybreak, and then the sunbeams came and began to partly light up the dale. I fetched my field glass, which is almost as important to me in this kind of hunting as the rifle. I was lying looking down towards the forest, where dwarf-like woods of floriferous trees and low pine met my eyes. Soon the same seemed to me to be gilt by the beams of the rising sun and the change of colour here on the high mountains was the most wonderful sight I have seen in the whole of my life. It was really as if the whole mountainous country had been a land of Sagas, where everything glitters in purple and gold. Behind the gilt pine trees and the bush I just noticed a fine sunlit antelope buck with stretched neck moving forward on the bottom of the valley towards my place.

28

KNUT KNUTSON

He kept himself very carefully on the shady side of the mountain so that it was difficult for me to see him but after a while he came nearer to the place where I was lying. The report of a gun was heard and an antelope lay dead. The antelopes in these mountains never go together in large herds as they generally do in South and East Africa. The most I have seen at one time have been four. The Bakweri also hunt the antelopes by driving dogs and I have several times taken part in such hunting. The dogs are of a native race and drive the antelopes without barking. Round their necks the dogs have a string on which is placed many rattles made from the outside shells of the fruits from the Fan-palm tree in which two small bone plates are fixed so that they strike upon the hard inside walls of the shells. One can hear this noise from the rattles at a distance of four to five hundred meters. The hunting by dogs is one of the most trying sports that I have ever taken part in and without being very well trained no one can follow the native hunters and their dogs. The hunters are generally four or five and have together a couple of dogs. One of the hunters has the very difficult task of following the dogs upon the drive and seeing that they do not miss the tracks of the animal. He must be a speedy runner and a good shouter calling to his companions to be on the watch while the chase is on. Three or four other hunters have to try to run and take up their stations to be able to shoot the animals while driven by the pursuing dogs. Although these men only have flintlock guns and very low quality of ammunition they kill many antelopes by this process. The Bakweri are very skilful in tracing the steps of the antelope and recognize the tracks well enough to judge where the same can be expected to have taken his resting-place for the day, so they have still another method by which they hunt their most favoured game. Four or five men are stationed at different points of the forest. At first one man, who is the driver, tries to shoot the animal but if he does not succeed he drives him towards his fellow-hunters who immediately form a circle about the beast. Many of the antelopes are killed in this way, but the hunting by dogs is most popular, and the most skilful of these hunters have also the reputation of being the bravest warriors in the town.

* * * * * At full-moon, when the population of a Bakweri town held their usual dances, I often saw the young girls dancing in a ring and heard them by song praising the endurance of the drive-hunters, and great was the happiness of being married to such a man. Thus their song: ‘Fresh meat never needs to be scarce in this house.’ The song also used to pay great honour to the cleverness of the dogs and the rapidity of the antelopes. Both in the traditional Sagas and songs of the Bakweri the drive-hunting is praised as one of the greatest merits of many virtue, which could only be surpassed by brave conduct in war, which was looked upon with the greatest esteem. When on my hunting trips, I had great opportunity to learn to know my black fellow hunters and get an idea of their life and the views they held. I found them to be very clever and very logical in what they uttered. We used almost always to sleep in the old hunting huts which at that time were to be found at many places on the mountains. The only furnishings of such huts were some rough pieces of a

FROM SWEDEN TO CAMEROON

29

round stem which were used as a mattress and one piece of wood for the head and one for the feet. We used to make a fire in the house to keep out the damp air; that was all the comfort that the wilderness could offer. Strange enough but true, when I came down to the Coast I couldn’t sleep on the spring mattress, but had to lie on the floor, which suited me much better being accustomed to a hard bed and pulley life [sic] in the forests and mountains. Once Mr. Gustafsson and the author went out together to Mimbia-side [between Bokwango=Wokpaongo and Buea] antelope shooting and followed a buck which we traced in the grass up hill and downhill for many hours. When we had followed him very far we tried to get up to a peak for the purpose of obtaining a view of him through our field glasses. We were just ascending a hill of 7–8,000 feet in height when we heard a fearful trumpet call from an elephant not one hundred yards from the place where we were standing. A few seconds afterwards the elephant came rushing right on us attacking us desperately, and we had to run up the mountain which was very steep and not far away. We understood that this was the only wise thing to do because we had only common rifles, used for antelope hunting. The elephant, which was an old hermit, tried to climb up the hill, but he fell down on his knees at each attempt. We had fired at him immediately and he received at least twenty shots altogether at a near distance. He was trumpeting awfully during the whole time and made several spurts and rushes to get up to us, but all in vain. We stood about twenty or thirty feet higher. He was a very old male elephant and his skin was shrunken; he looked to be very ill-conditioned and his spine was bent and scraggy. We shouldn’t have shot at him at all, but at first moment we thought he would be able to follow us up the hill. As he stood on the slope of the mountain, moving his ears and trunk up and down and now and then giving some very loud trumpet calls, it seemed to me that he was preaching the law of the wilderness to us. And his message sounded thus What do you want here, you pale-faced things? Upon these hills and on the beautiful grassy plains among the pine trees and the alpine flowers I have roamed for many, many years, feeding and enjoying myself and I consider these mountains as my kingdom. Now I am stiff and old, cast out of my herd, and up here I believed that I could claim a place of refuge and where I could live my remaining days in peace.

I could fully understand his feelings and the reason why he attacked us. His experience of the human race was, I am sure, not the best. They had always treated him pitilessly, and when he met the same, whether coloured or white, he would try to drive them away out of his kingdom. The poor old ‘hermit’ was bleeding very much from the wounds received, and as he staggered down the hills he gave loud calls by which he cursed his invaders. We followed him for three or four hours, but had to give up the attempt towards evening. A few days afterwards a man from Boando found an old scraggy male elephant dead in the forest near the Small Cameroon peak. This elephant was known by the Bakweri hunters very well and was highly feared having long ago killed hunters up on the plains. If we had met him on the last mentioned place our fate would soon have been decided. However we had a lucky but narrow escape.

30

KNUT KNUTSON

Editor’s Notes 1. Throughout Knutson, as some others, has incorrectly spelled Nachtigal’s name with a repeated final letter. 2. Düben published an article ‘Om svenskarna pa Kamerunberget’ in Ymer, 1886: 351–63. This was a compilation from letters and other material sent by Knutson and Waldau. It was presented verbally to the society in April 1885 (see Ymer). 3. For details on Quintin Thomson, see S. Ardener 1958, and note 2 on page 67 below. 4. For a detailed account of missionary Merrick’s visit to the villages on the mountain in 1848, drawn from the Missionary Herald, see Ardener, E.W. 1996, especially pp.41–65. Merrick, a Jamaican whose paternal grandmother was of African origin, and who was therefore probably regarded locally as simply ‘white’ or ‘European’, had worked for The Gleaner (a newspaper still published in Jamaica) before he joined the group from Jamaica which came to Africa at the end of 1843. He set up a printing press at what is now Douala on the Cameroon River, and met an early death on his way back to Jamaica in 1848 (see, for example, S. Ardener 1958: 7, 52n.11). We await new work on Merrick now in progress, by Prestyterian pastors Rev. Fosouo and Rev. Kamta, both of Cameroon, and by Rev. Las Newman in Jamaica. 5. There are various spellings, influenced by the pronunciation and orthographies of others, referring to the people on the Mountain who call themselves Vakpe (singular Mokpe). Among those who have written on their traditions and practices are Ardener, E. W. (1956, 1962, 1996), and Matute, D. (1988, 1990). In 1997 Bruce Connell edited the phonetic dictionary, Mokpe/English, compiled on cards by Edwin Ardener in the 1950s and 1960s. Connell also drew on Edwin’s notes on the grammar, which are as yet unpublished.

CHAPTER 2

Fauna and Flora

The Fauna of vertebrate animals was not very rich up on the grass plains of the Cameroon Mountains. Occasionally some few elephants went up there and two or three hermit elephants had their stationary home in the forests near the limit of trees. Of antelopes we had only two species, the afore-named which was very common and from which we obtained our food, and the small one (Britambi), the dwarf antelope, which was rare up the mountain but very common lower down. Monkeys never went higher than up to 5–6,000 feet. We shot a few specimens of the bushcat (viverrra).1 The leopard, I dare say, was common but very shy and I saw only one on the mountain and very often in the night he came near our house, but was very careful. He never went out on the plains. I suppose he knew he would meet men and dogs out there. Several times we hunted leopards which always went down to hide in a territory with very high bush and crossed by ravines further down to the small peak side near Bakingilli-bush. But as the dogs would not chase them, and the leopard being very shy, there was not much chance of killing any. In the night we heard their cry, especially when we were on hunting trips and stayed down at Bomana or Boando hunt houses. There was also a kind of serval which the natives described and of which they had killed some few a long time ago, and once when shooting pigeons I saw such an animal go inside a hole in a peak near Mann’s Spring. So I consider that the species of the vertebrate animals, with the exception of the mentioned antelopes which were abundant, were very rare on the grassy plains. There was also further down a big antelope called bush-cow, but this I never found on the grass plains. If the vertebrates were scarce up the mountains the bird-life was so much the more abundant and I may say that I have never seen so many different species living at such a small place as around Mann’s Spring, I suppose owing to the water. We prepared the skins of many birds and collected altogether not less than fifty-two species from the above place and its surroundings of which four were new to science. The first who made some ornithological collections from the upper Cameroon Mountains was Captain Richard Burton. In 1861 he brought home to England seven species from the mountains of which five were new to science. The well-

32

KNUT KNUTSON

known English explorer Sir H.H. Johnston, who in 1886 visited the Mongo ma Loba [Mountain of God] and the grassy plains on the [heights of] the Cameroon Mountains brought home eighteen species of birds of which not less than eight were new to science. I shot a good many birds on the Cameroon Mountains amongst others also a Heron Ardea Purpurea, which bird occasionally passed Mann’s Spring. In February 1884 I shot a species of owl which was new to science, and although I should have liked very much to call this fine bird after my brave and good traveller-companion and friend Mr. George Waldau, Doctor Y. Sjöstedt, a Swedish scientist who had lived about one year with Mr. Waldau and me, sent this bird, which had been lying in Stockholm’s Museum for ten years, to Professor Reichenow in Berlin asking him to give the bird a name. He did not mention to Professor Reichenow that I had shot the owl or that I should like to have the bird called after my friend George Waldau. On the contrary he gave silent assent to the bird being called Glaucidium Sjöstedti. I consider this way of dealing very unfair and a gentleman would not act so. I may add that Professor Sjöstedt has never been on the Cameroon Mountains, he was too much frightened of the Bakweri. Although he never had the courage to travel up the mountains, he accepted with pleasure the decision of his German colleague that the mentioned bird should be called after him. Dr Stolpe’s judgement about some of the men of science was correct. Doctor Sjöstedt has here in Sweden now [1914/18?] advanced to Professor so he is a great man of science, but the above-mentioned facts will not put his character in a very favourable light.2 Amongst the birds which we collected was Throchocercus Albiventris, which was shot not far from Mann’s Spring and also new to science. The Mesopicus Johnstoni (shell) was shot by Sir Harry Johnston in 1886, a male specimen, but in 1884 Mr. Waldau found the female which is also new to science. Alseonax Obscura was shot at Mann’s Spring in 1884 and three specimens new to science. There were many good singers among the birds up the mountains. During the dry season we had a real concert at Mann’s Spring. Especially good as singing birds were Pratincola Axallaris and Phylloscopus trochilus. The birds began to sing about six o’clock and continued to eight o’clock in the morning and in the evening from five o’clock to six o’clock. There were many other birds living up at the mountains such as Lanarius Atroflavus and Symplectes Croconotus, from which we brought male and female. From Xenociclela we brought home three specimens. Further we had a very fine and interesting pigeon Columba Arquatrix which used to fly near Mann’s Spring in large flocks, one half an hour before sunset, and were shot on their flight, which was rather difficult as they flew very fast, so we had to keep a good distance before if we would be able to shoot them. The first time I had shot some of these pigeons I prepared to fry them when a Bakweri man came and told me that the same were very bad. He showed me that the craw of it was filled with some small green fruits which were very poisonous, and that the same must be taken away and the bird cooked twice before eating. It must be carefully parboiled otherwise there would have been great risk in eating it. It seems very strange that these poisonous fruits also seem to be used by these birds for intoxication. Once when out hunting my Bakweri men brought me two pigeons of

FAUNA AND FLORA

33

the mentioned kind, which the men had found lying drunk on the road after having had too much of the named fruit. That proved to me why the birds were not shy which gave me a chance to come very near to them. Sometimes they took no notice of the loud report of my gun. A Mimbia man, who went with Levin [see below] and me to Bomana in 1884, told me that formerly the Bakweri used to stimulate the palm-wine with these fruits together with some red berries from another plant, but these made the men helplessly drunk and sometimes unconscious for some days, and as a result it was forbidden, a long time ago, to put these fruits in the palm-wine. There was formerly made a wine at Batoki which was said to have been made from honey, papaya and some fruits from the mountains, but this wine is since many years no longer manufactured. Now the palm-wine is the only wine at the mountains. Barbot, in his book in 1698, says that a wine was brewed from a root called Ganjalas. Probably the wine was called so by the Portuguese who perhaps had taught the natives to make it, but the Bakweri with whom I have talked about this name, have all denied that the same has been to signify this kind of wine. They know only that from cocos [cocoyams], yams, plantains, their forefathers used to make a wine, a very long time ago, and the same was called palm-wine or mimba. I noticed some birds on the grassy plains which we have here in Sweden such as Anthus, Hirundu, and I shot a specimen of Strix flammea. As a rule the raptorial birds such as hawks, falcons and eagles were very scarce here. The insect-life was not so rich down by the ground, but so much the more so in the crowns of the trees of the primeval forests. On the grassy plains there were very few insects, which I believe was caused by the fact that the natives yearly used to burn the grass, and then, of course, all that had life was destroyed by the fire. Our large collection of Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera and Myriopodes were made at Mapanja. From Mann’s Spring we had very few specimens of insects. There were some butterflies, wasps, bees and flies, but they were so very difficult to catch. Down in Mapanja and further down to Mungo there was a very great abundance of insects. We had a flying squirrel up at Mann’s Spring which, the natives said, used to take the honey from the bees. If that is true I cannot tell, but a fact was that the bees used to follow the squirrel as if they in the same had suspected an enemy, and made a lot of noise around the squirrel. It was very interesting to notice the way in which the Bakhirivis used to take the honey. The wild bees lay the honeycombs in holes on high trees which were often difficult to reach. But the natives, being very skilful in climbing, soon managed to get up the trees carrying with them a piece of a poisonous liana, which they had thrashed so that the juice was dripping from the same. The smell of this poisonous liana was so strong that the bees were overcome when the natives put the liana in the holes, and thus, they could easily pick out the honeycombs. The natives always pulled away the upper combs, being afraid that the same should contain some poison. In fact the natives are very clever, and they reflect much more on all that touches the natural laws than we white men do. With the Bakweri this sense was very great. With regard to nature study, the grassy plains of the Mountains were the most beautiful I have seen and the same is said by all who have been there. I met up there many old flower friends from Sweden, such as Myositis, Erica, Genista, all

34

KNUT KNUTSON

of which, mixed with the south European flora and the Alpine flowers from Switzerland and the Tyrol, made a beautiful combination. The flourishing primeval forest up on the Cameroon Mountains afforded us the finest scent of which the air during the flowering time was quite filled. From the peak above Mann’s Spring we could see far over the below-lying country in the direction of the small Cameroon peak, how the crowns of the trees seemed to be covered with flowers. Some of the trees seemed to have had blue, some red and white, flowers. It seemed to me that the blending of these many thousand crowns of trees with different colours had taken the form of a flourishing sea where the crimson coloured wave crests washed the most beautiful strand, which was formed by the charming blooming grassy plains. The natives also said that this view was the most beautiful that God (Loba) ever had created. We Swedes used often to pass this very spot, and we were really fascinated by the magnificence of the grand nature of the Cameroon Mountains. At Mann’s Spring we planted different kinds of vegetables, such as potatoes, beans, radishes and lettuce, if even not with so good a result as with us in Europe, it still was of great importance for us to have these vegetables. Once there was a palaver between a town by name Mokunda and Mapanja and war broke out, causing us a lot of trouble. We had difficulty in getting carriers for the Mountains and we needed to have coco[yam]s and rice brought up. So food began to be scarce and there was no chance of shooting any antelopes, because very thick and cold fog was hanging day and night over the Cameroon Mountains. [We agreed that] my companions should all go down and try to buy food at Buea, Bassa and Mapanja and I and my faithful dog Hector should stay up to watch the house against thieves and try to kill some antelopes. It was in the middle of May that this dense fog came over me. When my companions left me I had six cocos (small fruits like potatoes) and one tin of anchovy. My companions stayed down in Buea and Bassa for six days and during five days and nights I had fog, fog and only fog. It was a fearful time. My dog and I became thinner and thinner from day to day and when at last the fog on the fifth day began to disappear, I took my gun to go shooting pigeons. I was very weak from not having had food for two days, and poor Hector was moaning awfully during the last nights from hunger. So we went out in the evening, but missed the first pigeons with several shots. At last I shot one and Hector, who was sitting by me and following the birds and shooting as he usually did, ran to fetch the bird to his master, but instead stole the same and ate it up at once. The hunger had killed his feeling of duty. No wonder, because hunger is something fearful. He came crouching back when he had eaten the bird, and looked at me with his clever eyes as if he would have said, ‘forgive me massa’. Then there came a swarm of pigeons and I shot down in two shots three pairs of wings and now I was saved and near our house I shot a squirrel which Hector got. There were not many formalities in cooking these birds. I emptied the stomachs and then direct on the glow, and a few minutes afterwards I, as well as my true Hector, were quite happy again. This reminds me of Captain Gustav Levin, who was related to my friend George Waldau. He was a man who did not fear anything, and never would depart from the path of duty. He had been in the service of the Congo-States and was captain

FAUNA AND FLORA

35

of a small steamer running up that river. Once he received the order from the highest commanding officer to carry black men, who were infected with smallpox, up the Congo, but in his contract with King Leopold of Belgium, it was stipulated that he should follow the rules and regulations of the Belgian Sea-Law, according to which it was forbidden to carry infected passengers. Captain Levin refused to carry out the order of the Commanding Officer and was discharged. The Governor would not give him his salary and he stood alone without a shilling in his pocket. However a captain of an English steamer allowed him free passage to the Cameroons and on his arrival he went to his cousin George Waldau. He stayed only three or four months with us, then he received money sent to Fernando Po, and full payment of his salary from the Congo Free State. Levin was not liked by the Belgians because he was a man who treated all in the same way. Once, on board Levin’s steamer at the Congo, a Belgian officer who was a little drunk began to curse the black people, and when Captain Levin told him not to do so but to keep quiet he threatened Levin with his revolver. But Levin, who was a very resolute man, tied him up and put him on shore at a small island in the Congo River. Then he made him loose and gave him food and water for four or five days, and on his return fetched him. Levin said the officer was quite another man after that time and became a teetotaller. Once Captain Levin and I were alone up the mountains, while Mr. Waldau, Ohlsson and Gustafsson were at Mapanja to carry up some rice and cocos [cocoyams], when early one morning, about three o’clock, my dog Hector began to bark very loudly. Levin and I went out and saw by the light of our lantern the dog sitting below a tree looking up the same and barking repeatedly. We thought it was a leopard and had our guns prepared, and Levin managed to fix the lantern on a long stick so that we should be able to see further up the tree. On looking around we found that some of our boxes were broken and several things thrown out and two flint guns and two Bakweri bags with smoked antelope meat were resting against the wall of our small straw house. Now I understood that we had ‘the birds’ up in the tree. They had been frightened by Hector and had climbed the tree. Mr. Levin was now laughing very much, and together with Hector we sat down at the foot of the tree watching till the daybreak should give us light on the matter. At daybreak we saw two men high up in the tree and Levin proposed that he should go up and bring them down. He had his revolver with him, but I told the thieves to come down, the one first and then the other afterwards. Both thieves were crying ‘Tatta Kokko eh, navelio, N’ba isalloli.’ – ‘My father and friend I die. The dog very bad.’[‘Bak.:’Tata Kokko e, Na nwelio, ngba i saloli i saloli’ – My father, I am sorry. the dog is not good, is not good’] (Hector had bitten one of them in the leg.) Captain Levin made some very definite signs with his gun, talking a silent but strongly persuasive language to the thieves to come down and without delay, and not to waste valuable time. They did so and were tied, and got a good punishment from Levin, which was necessary to keep up our reputation. We kept their guns as our property and as a reminiscence of the Buea thieves. The men made some signs that they were hungry, and Mr. Levin who was a very good-hearted man, said at once, well you shall have a breakfast before you are off, but that is the first and last time in my life I invited thieves to eat breakfast. ‘Well’, he said, ‘I am glad to say

36

KNUT KNUTSON

it’s their own antelope beef we fed them with.’ We gave them some breakfast and as soon as they had eaten they began to beg tobacco etc., and seemed now to have forgotten the theft altogether and were not ashamed at all, which was a very great sign of cheek. Levin took our guns showing them the road, and I told them ‘Akende kasse, kasse,’ [A kende kasse kasse]– ‘Go away quick, quick’. When the men returned to Buea they told the King and the people there that we had robbed them of their guns, flogged them although they had never touched anything belonging to us, and complained about our dog who had bitten one of them in the leg. King Kova [= Kuv’ a Likenye3] sent me a messenger telling us that we must settle the palaver with his men. I told the messenger that he should tell the king that his men had tried to steal from us and were caught in the tree on the occasion, and that my dog had bitten the man when he managed to jump up the tree, and further, that the next time his men came up to the mountains to steal from us, our guns would talk. Bueas had once before troubled us and threatened us, and now they must take care. ‘We wish to live in peace with all.’ They knew that we were well armed having fine motongo (repeating guns) and also knew that we were skilful in the use of them. So we did not hear anything from the Bueas for a very long time. Levin went home to Europe, but before leaving he and I travelled right over the mountains from Mann’s Spring to Bomana and down to Bibundi. This journey was very tiresome, and we were without water for a whole day, living on wasted plantains and honey. I mention the same because it was the first time that white men had travelled from Mann’s Spring to Bomana. About four or five thousand feet up is a very large plain on which beautiful tree ferns grew. Mr. Levin and I were delighted with the wild nature of the ravine district where a great many very fine plants and trees belonging to the subtropical flora were seen. The Germans have not scientifically explored this territory, and I dare say that this part of the primeval forest situated at a height of 5,000–7,000 feet on the Cameroon Mountains in the direction from the small Cameroon Peak to Bomana, where no natives live, would be of great scientific value to explorers. The difference in the flora of that district and the same at a similar height of the south-east part of the Cameroon Mountains is in my opinion very great. Why do no natives live up on the first mentioned part of the mountains? I should say that the soil and the ravines make it difficult for people to live there, but of course there are also some very fine places that I consider to be very good for cultivation, especially further down at 2–3,000 feet height. But there is another thing that we have to consider and that is the fog during April and June and the very heavy rain in June-October, which on this part of the mountains is enormous. My opinion is that the natives would not be able to live very long on this part of the mountains. I could not trace any signs of old farms on that spot, so I consider that this country has not been cultivated for many hundreds of years, perhaps never. On our return trip we passed over a place called Bibundi where I afterwards lived for several years. When we should have pulled through the surf in our small canoes mine capsized. Mr. Levin who went ten meters before me jumped overboard at once when he saw my canoe filled with water. But I swam ashore, dried

FAUNA AND FLORA

37

my clothes in the sun and soon we started again and pulled through the surf and returned to our home at Mann’s Spring in the course of three days. During the last part of October 1884 Mr. Ohlsson was alone with Hector at Mann’s Spring and we others had settled down at Mapanja. Very often the Bueas came up the mountains to hunt and it happened sometimes that Mr. Ohlsson saw them at a distance, but they carefully avoided Mann’s Spring territory. One day a man came from Bassa to Mapanja telling us that Mr. Ohlsson had killed a Bueaman, when he was out hunting one evening, and that King Kuva [Cova = the same Kuv’a Likenye] at Buea now had made great preparations for war both against us and against Mapanja where we lived and with which town we were good friends. I told the man that I was sure that Mr. Ohlsson had not shot the Buea-man and that we should clear up the matter in the course of a few days. The following day a messenger from King Kuva arrived who brought the news that our companion had killed a Buea-man and that two witnesses could state and prove how the matter had happened. I told the men that the King should be careful about spreading abroad such a lie, which I knew for a fact that it was, and that I thought one of the witnesses had killed the man, and that a meeting about the matter must be held. The next day a man came running from Buea saying that the King had examined the matter now and that he had found one of the witnesses to be guilty, and that he was very sorry to have unjustly accused Mr. O. In the meantime Mr. Waldau had been up to Mann’s Spring and carried all our luggage down and Mr. Ohlsson also went down with him. The last named was very surprised to hear that he had killed a man, and so much the more as he had not been out hunting on the day when the man was said to have been shot. At the same time a nephew of King Kuva who was hunting in the neighbourhood of Buea had his arm destroyed by an explosion of a gun which King Kuva had got in dash [gift] from Mr. Waldau some time ago and now the King believed that we white men had begun to bewitch him, because he had falsely accused our countryman of having shot the Buea-man. A witchman down from Bonjemal had said that when the white men begin to bewitch a man it was the best to settle the matter quickly because the next time it would probably be the king who would have to meet some great trouble. I went over to Buea and had a very long palaver with King Kuva, who was now very afraid of Mr. Waldau and me, and asked me repeatedly that we should not bewitch him any more. He had been wrong and now he would satisfy us. The two men who tried to steal at Mann’s Spring had been driven away to Balundu side. The man who had spread the lie about Mr. Ohlsson was killed, and he wished now to make peace with us for ever. I told him through the interpreter that he and his people had been troubling us very often, and that I considered that he had made a mistake in believing more on what his stealing and lying subjects told him. Now he must try to change his mind, otherwise we would not be friends with him. The proud old king was begging as a child and promising to make a law that he and his men should bring plenty India-rubber to us. We now shook hands and broke and ate the kola-nut and now I had made friendship with Buea for ever. But before I returned to Mapanja he whispered in my ear, in the Bakweri language, ‘tell Mr. Waldau that you and I are good friends and now we all shall be

38

KNUT KNUTSON

good friends. No broken gun any more you know.’ I told him that white men are no witchmen, but he only smiled, he would have sold anything that I had asked for. Since that time I was at King Kuva’s many times, we were always the best of friends and I consider him to have been an honest man but the Buea people had got some very bad men from Mungo and Cameroon-side who were badly affecting many of them. King Kuva told me that he had tried to alter this system and made a law that no young Buea men should go to Isubu, Mungo or Duala. To show how the man, who killed his companion while hunting up the mountains, could lie, I wish to state that King Kuva told me that this fellow had described in all details how he had seen Mr. Ohlsson coming to hunt and looking for some game in the bush, and fired his gun on purpose, killing the same. He saw his friend fall and Mr. Ohlsson running back to our house at Mann’s Spring. When the King told them that they had to carry the body of the deceased down for his inspection and that he would give them four men to go with them up the mountains, they saw that they would not be able to clear themselves, so they ran away the same night but one of them was killed at Mungo-side. King Kuva made an examination of the body and inside the bottom of the wound he found some pieces of an iron-pot, which is the bullet generally used by the Bakweri. At Mann’s Spring we had two very nice pigs which we had bought from the Bakweri. The pigs seemed to have had very keen scent. In fact they smelled the leopard before the dog did and often in the night they came inside in our room together with our dog Hector. With him they were on the very best of terms, and with him they loved to play. I never have seen such intelligent and clean pigs as those. They lived only on roots and grasses out in the bush. As soon as they smelled a leopard they ran home immediately, where they knew that they were safe. They used to follow me part of the way when I went hunting and grunted as if they wished me good luck.

Editor’s Notes 1. The identification of some of his animals needs confirmation by a zoologist. Nowadays, suggests E.M. Chilver, Viverra is the Indian civet cat, and the African one is Civetictis Civetta. 2. For more on Sjöstedt see memoir and Sjöstedt (or Sjösstedt) 1897. 3. For further detailed material on Kuva (sometimes written Cova, Kova, Kuba), see Ardener, E.W. 1996: 42–148 passim.

CHAPTER 3

Misery and India-rubber

The rainy season up on the Cameroon Mountains began in the first days of June and there was pouring rain, day and night with only a few short intervals. The German agent Mr. Held [of Woermann’s] and the Victoria coloured gentlemen were working against us as much as possible and forbade us to carry our luggage and provisions up the mountains. Besides, our money was spent and nobody would give us credit for a penny. We had both guns and merchandise but the above-mentioned people did all to prevent us carrying it up from Victoria to the mountains. In one word we were nearly brought to beggars and in fact we were as poor as rats and should have had to die of hunger if our true friend M’Boe Mosikao [Mbua Mosekao] and the Mapanja people had not shown us such great friendship and hospitality. The antelopes had left the grass-plains owing to the heavy rain and we had to walk down to Mapanja, with the exception of Mr. Ohlsson who stopped at Mann’s Spring to watch our scientific collections and to try to shoot some antelopes. The English missionaries were gone to the Congo, so from that side no help was to be expected. Mr. Waldau and I were always sick with fever, also poor, so our position was very discouraging, and although we had enough goods lying in Woermann’s store in Victoria, Mr. Held and some of the coloured gentlemen there prevented us from using our own merchandise, although I had paid hire for one year in advance for a store to Woermann Co. We told our Mapanja friends how the matter in reality stood, and our former guide M’Boe [Mbua] Mosikao said at once, ‘Well, Mr. Waldau and Knutson, my, and my mother’s house is small, dark, and built after Bakweri fashion, but the door is always open for you. When you were up the mountains and had shot an antelope you always sent us a nice piece of meat. I cannot see you sick and starving, without trying to help you. Here with us you can rest as long as you wish.’ These friendly words from our black hunting companion revealed a heart which you here in West Europe have to search for with candle and lantern, and I dare say you wouldn’t be able to pick up many here who would act as my friend Mbua Mosekao did. For the reason that I found so many pleasing traits of philanthropy in the people of Mapanja I have as a small reward for all the good and humane ser-

40

KNUT KNUTSON

Figure 4: Bakweri House (1870s) (Thomson 1881)

vice they showed Mr. Waldau and me when poor and sick, dedicated this my book ‘to the Mapanja-people.’ The last weeks in September and October 1884, up at the mountains by Mann’s Spring had been very bad indeed, the antelopes were living in the deep forests, and it was very difficult to shoot them. Day after day, early in the morning we went out with our guns in the pouring rain to try to shoot some game and returned late with empty bags. But in the evening by the log fire in our small grass hut we dried our clothes for the next day. We were obliged to hunt in order to maintain our existence, for on the guns and the game depended our lives. In the dry season it had been easy enough to get sufficient food, but we did not know that the game left the mountains when the rainy season began. It was a fearful time, sickness, hunger, rain or fog, cold and poverty. We became discouraged and the future seemed to us very dark indeed. No native would take the risk of travelling up to Mann’s Spring when the heavy rains fell, as very often such a trip would cause them inflammation of the lungs, which sickness generally had a fatal issue with the natives. We were alone up in the high mountains watching the Mungo ma Loba, nothing in the whole human creation was living so high up along the African coast as we were and in spite of the many difficulties we loved and were proud of [our] position on the mountains and the green primeval forest. But in the time of need, help is often near and so it was also here. The rain stopped for a few days and Mr. Ohlsson killed a big antelope. Some carriers from our true Mapanja-people came up with a few bags of cocos [cocoyams] and plantains. The situation was saved once more, and the sun began to shine on the wet grass-plains and the high peaks and inspired some rays of hope in our minds and hearts.

MISERY AND INDIA-RUBBER

41

A few days afterwards Mr. Gustafsson and I started on a hunting trip to the Small Cameroon peak and found a liana which, when we cut the same, delivered a white milk-like juice. We collected some of the milk in a tin and brought it with us to Mann’s Spring. In the evening we cooked it and found to our surprise that when cooked it formed a solid consistence and that we had discovered Landolphia Florida, the splendid rubber plant. We were glad and full of hopes that now we had a basis on which, when the dry season came, we could begin to work. In the meantime Mr. Held had died of fever, and another agent Mr. Stehr had, for the firm Woermann & Co., been appointed their agent in Victoria. He was very interested when he heard of our discovery, and told me that if it was real India-rubber, we could get any credit we wanted from him and that he wouldn’t work against us. We understood that it would be of great importance to us if we could teach the natives to collect the rubber and prepare the India-rubber. For that reason we went out in the bush taking specimens of the liana and showed the same to the natives, who knew the plant very well before and used to eat its fruits. The natives called the rubber liana, manjongo [manyongo] (milk-plant). We found that the plant did not grow higher up the mountains than about 5,000 feet, but was very abundant at a height from 1,000–4,000 feet, and also further down, but the quality of the rubber from the last named height was the best one. We considered it wise to go down to Mapanja and teach the people to collect it, and two of us should stay up at Mann’s Spring. Mr. Waldau and I should go down to Mapanja, but when we arrived there we caught a very bad fever. We were lying in our hammocks at our friend Mbua’s, with a 39–40 degrees Celsius temperature. Mr. Gustafsson and Ohlsson were now up on the mountains at Mann’s Spring, and we had begun to carry down some of our collections. Sick and poor we had to lie there week after week idle and nearly unconscious, but nursed during the whole time by our black friend and his old kind-hearted

Figure 5: Sick and Poor. Knutson in the middle, Waldau on left. © The National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Per Dusén.

42

KNUT KNUTSON

mother. You may consider that after such a treatment on the part of the Bakweri what my feelings for the black race must always be. I am indebted to the same and reckoned it very strongly as my duty when I saw any cruelties committed against them, to fight for a more humane method of treatment of the natives. At last Mr. Waldau and I recovered and could begin our work to teach the people to collect the rubber. It was hard work but very interesting for a lover of the Flora and Fauna, and I’m glad to say that it paid us. I remember very well the first bag of India-rubber I brought down to Victoria in November 1884. The first day the natives did not like the work in the forests, but having seen the cloth, the tobacco and the beads which some of the men brought with them after a few days of hard work, they began to collect the rubber more and more and sold it to us. We began to gain more power and influence over the natives and I went down and fetched our guns and merchandise. The blockade was broken and some days afterwards we bought three hundred pounds of rubber a day. On the 28th November 1884, Mr. Ohlsson and all our luggage and collections were brought down to Mapanja.* We all walked down to Mapanja, I may say, and Waldau and I now bought two houses up on the highest hill at Mapanja and that we paid our true friend Mbua and his mother very well and dashed him besides with a cap gun and several pieces of cloth. We worked hard now, sometimes in the bush with the people or in Lekambe [identified by Chief Efange as Likombe] to buy the rubber on the market or went down to Victoria with our rubber bags and collections. In fact there was no rest. We had now very much to do with the rubber trade and were very busy in making collections and found a lot of new species of insects and snakes. Of the last mentioned I think we made the richest collections from the Cameroon Mountains. To go into this matter would take too much space, and snakes and flies are not animals for which many people have sympathy and interest. On the 7th of December Mr. Gustafsson and Mr. Ohlsson went out to look for some monkeys (Chimpanzees) which the people collecting rubber had seen not far from the Small Cameroon peak, and tried to come near the monkeys by creeping over an open place. Mr. O. had neglected to put his straw hat on his head and the sun was burning very hard and when he returned in the afternoon he became very sick, and after only twenty hours, twelve hours of which he was unconscious, he died, the 8th day of December 1884. So the [chain] was broken, one of us had gone. Mr. Richard Ohlsson was a very good man, but he did not take care of himself enough. Many, many times Mr. Waldau and I told him not to go out in the sun without a hat, but he considered that there was no risk although we repeated our warnings. He was a very ambitious and loyal man and very much liked by us all. Mr. Waldau read the burial service over him. During a long time our friends at Mapanja had told us about two species of elephants. We considered it to be nonsense but I believe now that the natives were quite right and I was wrong who did not examine the matter more carefully. The Bakweri told me of two different species, Njokko, which was the big and N’gollo’ which was a smaller one. The last named lived down at Mungo-side and now I * In the foregoing chapter I have told about the murdered man of Buea and how that palaver was settled in a peaceful way.

MISERY AND INDIA-RUBBER

43

wish to give you a description of my hunting of these animals out at the Cameroons, which will give you an idea of the difficulties which a hunter had to meet up the mountains and down in the swamp.

The N’gollos [elephants] In July 1885 two of my hunting companions reported that not far from Mapanja near Ekundjo-territory eight N’gollos (the small elephant species1) had been seen, and my friend Mr. Gustafsson and I went out and followed the tracks of the same for two days, having a very tiresome and difficult work to hunt them in the severe rain. These animals were very shy and never went out on the grass plains only touching the edge of the same. The N’gollos used to sleep during the nights in the thicket of bushes of the primeval forest. It was very strange that the size of their tracks were so even for the mentioned animals, a circumstance which my black friends declared to be owing to [the fact] that no old or young elephants used to go with the herds on their wanderings up the mountains. It was impossible to come across the same and we had to give up the trying pursuit for that time. A few months afterwards at the end of September a brother of my friend M’Boe [Mbua] who was settled at N’Binga [Mbinga=Bwenga], sent me a message that in the bush of N’binga Bokwai near to the Mungo-delta there were a good many N’gollos and he asked me to come, so that we perhaps might be able to kill some. But he told me before, that we should have to encounter many hardships and difficulties and that the whole territory inhabited by the N’gollos consisted of creeks, forests with thick cactus bush and other thorny plants, lianas, etc., and that the ground was very muddy. I was soon to notice that his sketch of the terrain was quite a copy of what he had told me, and I may say that I should rather think that his demonstration of the nature of this spot of Mungo-river delta was a mild one. I spent three days in this place and we got tracks of a herd of ten N’gollos, which we followed energetically through a forest, where not a sunbeam had the power to penetrate. The green and dark canopy of leaves, the decayed parts of plants and molluscs filled the air with a suffocating stinking smell, which forced me and my companions to cover our noses with cloth. We had to wade up to our knees in mudpools and creeks where the slime stuck close to my pyjamas, so that the same looked as if covered with smeary wet cement. Many small sharp shells were fastening in my pyjamas and stockings cutting the small of my legs at each step. Several times we came near the animals, but never in sight of them. Both I and my black companions were deadly tired and got a very high fever. I was unconscious for three days and was nursed by true-hearted black companions and my old friend King Njeka. When I awoke again and was a little better the king and the brother of Mbua, who later several times had shot at the N’gollos but never killed one, gave me the following report about the N’gollos. They said that these animals were stationery in the swamps and forests of the mouth of the Mungo-river, and they considered the number of animals now living to be only about eight herds or fifty-sixty in all. The N’gollos are very shy of people and used formerly to be more common but since many farms have been culti-

44

KNUT KNUTSON

Figure 6: Masonga Mjoko [manejoku?] Man-high elephant tusks © The National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Per Dusén.

vated they have been driven away. The cultivation of cocoa [?cocoa or cocoyams?] has resulted in driving many animals from the Cameroon Mountains. About fifty or sixty years ago a man at Binga [sic] killed an N’gollo elephant not far from N’Binga Bokwai. There is a tradition that the N’gollos invaded N’Binga district before the Njokko. I should have been afraid to have mentioned this fact, as many readers would think it not true, but I beg to state that in the Congo there was shot in 1914 a small elephant new to science and described by Dr. Schoutten Brüssels and called, Elephas Africanus Fransenii. The first specimen was shot by Lieutenant Franssen in the Belgian Army, at the upper Congo and in a very bad and muddy place and this poor officer caught a bad fever during his hunt and a few days after he died. The skin and skeleton of Elephas Africanus Fransenii is in the Colonial Museum of Belgium. The India-rubber trade increased more and more and we had pleasure in seeing that our economic position was better, but we lived still as before in our country house trading in rubber, and collecting skins and insects and hunting with the natives. With the money we could save we used to buy some ground from the Bakweri and I am glad to say they had acquired a so great confidence in us, that when they heard of the disturbances at the Cameroons, there came to us many of the Bakweri kings saying that they preferred to be Swedish subjects as they knew us very well and that they reckoned us to be the only white men besides the English Baptist missionaries, who now had left the Cameroon Mountains and gone to the Congo,2 upon whom they could rely. They said that they had heard that King Dumbe (Bell) of Duala at the Cameroon river had brought some German-Men-ofWar to the Cameroon river and some news had arrived that the German soldiers had killed many natives in the Cameroons.3

MISERY AND INDIA-RUBBER

45

Both kings at Mapanja, Ekundjo and Lekumbi [Likombe, sometimes spelled Lecumbi] and their chiefs had sold their territories to us4 and we would have got the whole mountain in a few days, when the German-Men-of-War came to Bimbia. The former peace at the Cameroon Mountains was now gone and a new state of things was introduced by such men as v. Puttkamer and v. Leist who did not know the people and their customs and who never had taken care to study the life of the natives and accordingly didn’t understand how to treat them justly and fairly, being junkers who only cared for their own pleasure. Now I shall describe the invasion of the Germans in the Cameroons as I comprehend the matter, and I believe everyone who has a common sense of justice, will say that I am right that the contents of the old proverb, ‘ingratitude is the reward the world gives’, will be a true definition with respect to the Germans’ treatment of me as stated in the following chapters.

Editor’s Notes 1. My enquiries among zoologists in Oxford University suggest that this was not a true species, but probably refers to immature elephants. 2. Of the two English missionaries remaining, Samuel Silvey from Manchester had arrived in Cameroon in 1883. He played a key role during the Douala uprising. Later he moved to the Congo, dying on his way home on leave in 1889. Another missionary, Thomas Lewis, was also in Douala at the time of the uprising. Later he also went to the Congo, but made two further visits to Cameroon in subsequent years (Lewis 1930). There remained, however, the extraordinary, long serving, Rev. Joseph Jackson Fuller from Jamaica; for further details and photographs see S. G.Ardener 1968. 3. For vivid eye-witness accounts of this dramatic attack, see Ardener, S.G. 1968. 4. See Parts III and IV below for details of these contracts.

Figure 7: Tapping rubber [vine] (memoir)

CHAPTER 4

The German Invasion 1884–18851

On the 3rd January 1885 Mr. Waldau and I went with Molla Mosingi to hunt monkeys and wild hogs near the small Cameroon Peak. We had been out only two days, when we decided to go back to Mapanja having discovered a small craterlake, which at that time was dry. When we returned to Mapanja we met some natives who brought us the news that a German gentleman had arrived together with a Mr. Arnold Stehr at Mapanja and was staying at our house. We ran down the hills as quickly as possible and when we arrived at our house we met the afore-named Mr. S. and a gentleman by the name Hugo Zöller,2 who was a reporter for a German newspaper and came as a messenger and representative of Dr. G. Nachtigal, who then took the country in possession for the account of the German Emperor. Mr. Z. asked us to put our territories under the German Protectorate. I may say that I was not willing to do so because for me it had always been looming that my fatherland should take the mountains, and I asked him to show his Power of Attorney stating that he in reality had the right to represent Dr. Nachtigal. He had no written authority from Dr. N. and then I told him that we were much surprised to meet a foreigner, who told us that he was a representative of Dr. N. but had no proofs of it. The German Men-of-War, ‘Bismark’, ‘Olga’, ‘Hyena’, ‘Cyclop’ and Möwe’, had anchored in Ambas Bay and the crew from ‘Möwe’ had started in boats at Bimbia for Binga [Bwenga]. Mr Zöller gave us to understand that the Cameroon river was already in the possession of the German Emperor, which we knew to be a fact, and that we had to decide if we would put our territories and our influence amongst the natives at the Cameroon Mountains at the disposal of the German Power or not! The Germans knew how they had to act! Waldau and I told Mr. Zöller that we should discuss the question carefully and wouldn’t give Mr. Zöller any answer before we were sure that he really had the authority to negotiate for Dr. Nachtigal’s account. Mr. Stehr, whom we knew very well, told us that he and Mr. [Eduard] Schmidt3 had been present and heard when Mr. Zöller received instructions from the above mentioned representative of the German Emperor to go up the mountains to discuss the terms with us, and that his

48

KNUT KNUTSON

opinion was that England and Germany already had settled the Cameroon territory question at home. He advised us to assist Mr. Zöller, who in a few days would show us his Power of Attorney. On the 8th of January Mr. Zöller showed us a letter from Dr. Nachtigal which proved the truth of his words and in which letter it was stated that the above named Dr. N. already had concluded a treaty with the King of N’Binga [Bwenga, Binga], my special friend Njeka. We now decided to put our property under the German Emperor, when this letter came, although I should have preferred the English Government. Mr. Hewitt, the Consul, who had promised to meet me in Victoria, did not keep his appointment. The first night Mr. Zöller stayed with us at Mapanja he was very much excited and expected that he and we should be killed by the Bakweri. On the fifth day of January we had a very heavy tornado and a branch of a big tree which stood near our house fell down. Mr. Zöller got up from his bed struck a light and seized his gun crying, that now the Bakweri were over us. I have never seen Mr Waldau laugh so much as when he saw Mr. Zöller, dressed only in a short shirt, standing there shivering with cold and fear, holding his gun ready to act. Waldau said to me in Swedish, ‘What is the matter with that fellow he must be either crazy or frightened of the natives!’. I believe both reasons had made this gentlemen so excited that he could not sleep at all. When we came to Buea he was still more upset. I shall never forget when we arrived at that place. I had a little fever and had to drink tea and take some quinine in the night. Mr. Zöller and I lay down at the house of my friend King Kuva of whom I have several times before written in this book. Mr. Waldau stopped with the old King Letongo.4 As I have mentioned before, Waldau and I stood on the best of terms with both of these Kings and we knew that they would never touch us or any one in our company, and we on our side wouldn’t do them any harm, having broken the kola-nut and also eaten the same together. We were close friends and when we came to them they had at once to kill a fowl and prepare food and a house for us to sleep in, and when they came to look us up at Mapanja we had to give them food and a dish. So Mr. Zöller overrated the danger for us, while we were in Buea. This danger only existed for him, but was never in Mr. Waldau’s or my thoughts. We knew very well that we were safe in Buea. King Kuva came to me and asked me privately about Mr. Zöller, whom he believed to be a bad man, and asked if it was true that he was sent by the Emperor of Germany to begin war with the Bakweri. He considered him, so he said, to be of no use having no flag to show. ‘Look at you and the English Missionaries you have a flag, but this German has none’, he said. ‘The Swedish King or the English Queen must take our country, we won’t be German we don’t like to be German subjects’. I told the King that it would take a very long time before we could receive any answer from our king, and he must understand that the circumstances had brought us as well as him in a corner. There was nothing else to do than to put our territories under the German Emperor. Mr. Zöller, when we returned from Buea to Mapanja, destroyed, through his stupid behaviour, his own reputation with the Bakweri. He threatened the guide Mbua with a revolver, so I had to tell Mr. Z. to quickly put down the same, as otherwise I should know how to punish him. I told him that he was a foreigner, who had no

THE GERMAN INVASION 1884–1885

49

power, and now he had damaged his own and his countryman’s cause, having flogged the guide with a stick. And he had treated him so because the same was sick and couldn’t walk. The Bakweri were now very upset and I dare say that, if Waldau and I had not been present to protect him, he should have been killed. However, I told him the truth and showed him that he had no power and that he had acted unfairly and badly. This was too much for the proud Bakweri people so they called Mr. Zöller by the nickname, ‘Mokalla samba Sallolli Mango’, (translated – ‘The white man who spoke so very bad palaver.’).* Mr. Zöller left Mapanja to meet the Consul General Nachtigal at N’Binga and asked me to go with him, which I did. Dr. N. was a countryman of Mr. Zöller and he understood how to treat the natives (as they ought), being an old African traveller. Dr. N. thanked Mr. Waldau and me, because we had shown him such great confidence and put our territories under the German Emperor and assured us that we should always be treated on the best of terms, having done the German Crown and him such good services. We followed D. Nachtigal up to Bonjokko, Bonjemal, Bullikova, and Bomote, which towns were put under the German power. He spoke many sweet words, promising us to be sure that we always could rely upon the German Emperor, but ‘sweet words and fat pork do not fasten in the throat’, says an old Swedish proverb. Mr. Waldau and I believed Dr. Nachtigal, and that the Germans were trustworthy people and stuck to their word. Of course, we found the first time we were at the mountains how the agent of the German firm, Woermann’s, at Victoria and the coloured gentlemen, who were the masters and members of the ‘Court of Equity’ of Victoria, worked together against our interests. They tried to do all that they could to drive us away from the mountains, but without success. When they noticed that the reputation which we enjoyed with the natives on the Cameroon Mountains was so strong and deeply rooted, they began to treat us in another way, fearing that we and the Bakweri could be a very hard nut to crack. On the 24th of January 1885 I went with the Commander on board the German Man-of-War, ‘Bismark’. Capt. v. Kärcher made treaties with the following villages, all of which through my influence were put under the German Protectorate, namely, to Mokundange, Bonatanga [identified as Boniamatange or Wonyamatange, see III, 1], Etome, and Basse [Mbasse, Chief Efange]. The next day I bought Boando and put this territory under the German Protectorate as you will see from the treaty translated from the German to the English language: On the Command of His Majesty the German Emperor. On account a conclusion of a treaty which Mr. Knut Knutson has closed with the Kings, Monika and Mucumba and the independent Chiefs of upper and lower Boando Country, through which the same have granted Mr. Knut Knutson the proprietary and the suzerainty-right on the West, to Basso on the East, to Ekundje [Ekonjo], on the South, to Bota and Bonatanga, and on the North, to the Peak of Etindeh and Mapanja. I herewith * Editorial footnote: After having read Knutson’s account, readers might wish to turn and compare Zöller’s version of these events, given in Part IV below.

KNUT KNUTSON

50

declare on the application of Mr. Knut Knutson that his country in its whole extension from this date is under the supremacy and protectorate of His Majesty German Emperor. As a further sign hereof the German War flag is today hoisted at Boando. This document is written in triplicate of each of which the Kings of Boando have received one copy. Boando 25th, January, 1885. Kärcher. Naval Captain and Commander H.M.S. Bismark. For the correctness of the copy Bachmann. (Seal Naval Second Lieutenant and Aide-de-camp. Marine). N:o 1 Not. Reg. Title Deed for Mr. Knut Knutson. It is herewith officially certified that according to treaty N: o 1 here in the Government office Mr. Knut Knutson is the legitimate and sole owner of the territory situated at the Cameroon Mountains Boando and further in an extension of: on West, to Basso. North, Mapanja territory East, Mukunda (Sigill) South, Munuda and Bota exclusive. Cameroons the 4th, February, 1886. Imperial Governor W. Puttkamer.

On the 26th of January 1885 Mr. Waldau and I were invited to a big dinner on board the ‘Bismark’, and the Commander had the great courtesy to let the band on board play the Swedish national anthem, and he also (v. Kärcher) made a speech proposing the very good prosperity for Mr. Waldau and me, and also uttered, ‘that we could be sure that the German Emperor would never forget the great services Waldau and I had done Germany by helping them’, and he declared ‘that our territories would always be respected by the German Emperor; as moreover as we had possessed the territory before the German occupation took place’. Several speeches were held and champagne was drunk to the health of Waldau and me as well as to the fine old country of Sweden etc. The whole was very amusing, and by some we were promised gold and green forests. As we all know, champagne makes men weakhearted and mild. I believe that the officers would never like it, if some of them should read these lines and get to know how the German Government expressed their thankfulness towards ‘the true Swedes’, who were the first owners of the large territories of the Cameroon Mountains. It’s a very great shame. Did the German Government keep their promise and stick to their word according to the already mentioned official acts, namely; Titledeed 1) 2)

Titledeed of the 25/1 1885 Titledeed of the 4/2 1886

THE GERMAN INVASION 1884–1885

51

and ten other titledeeds all of which would only be wearisome to read?5 Every just and honest man, be he Englishman or Swede, must give only one answer. No, and emphasize the meaning of it once more, NO! It is an official shame and I know many who have not believed it when I have related it. I feel it is my duty to recall the truth through official acts. I believe that it proves sufficiently how a foreigner has been treated in a German colony. This is to prevent repetitions. I would with that, not say that the German people in general are not honest, not so; it is the system of giving bad men high official posts, which has been the greatest mistake. When the German authorities at Cameroons found that the territories which Mr. Waldau and I had bought were fertile and also very well situated, they began their operations, at first slowly, and tried without drawing public attention to issue some ordinances, which gave the Government the right under certain circumstances to declare our territories as German Crownland. When I became aware that such an ordinance of the 27th of March 18886 was given out by the Governor at Cameroons, I went to him, (von Soden) and told him that I had not expected to be treated in such a way on the part of the German Government as I now understood would be the case. Governor v. Soden then said, that we could be sure that the German Government would not rob us of our property and we had only to continue to work, and the fact that we had begun to work up Rio del Rey district would be considered as a great merit to us, but he advised me that I should engage a land surveyor, a Swede or a German, and measure the part of our territories which we considered most valuable. We were more quiet now and worked up the north part of the German colony, Rio del Rey, believing that we had no reason to fear for our territory in the South. However, I engaged Dr. F. Dusén who, during the year 1891, surveyed and measured our estates of Bonatanga, Etome, Basso Elundu, and Batoki at the Cameroon Mountains, and made a map of the above territories.7 The chart is still in my possession and although twenty-six years old it is a very useful witness to the injustice obtained from the side of the German Government officials of the Cameroons. On its back the following official text will be noted. Translation: ‘I herewith officially declare, that Mr. F. Dusén, whom I personally know, has today visited me and brought before me the original of a map on the other side and declared to me that it is he, who has completed both, and the copy corresponds in every respect with the original. (Stamp)

Victoria [31st], July, 1891. The Imperial Governor. of a province Krabbes.

fee 7.M. 50pf.

We thought now that we, although with very large expenses, had gained security that the German Government in Cameroons would not be able to declare our territory as Crownland. In fact it seemed to us that, since we now had titledeeds and a Chart officially recognized, the German Governor could not, without paying us a certain amount of compensation, declare our estates as Crownland.

52

KNUT KNUTSON

However, we were soon to find that also this work was of no consequence, when such men as Messrs. Zimmerer, von Leist and von Puttkamer were to rule the German colony of the Cameroons. Already in March 1894 the former dismissed Chancellor, von Leist, began to get our property declared as Crownland and v. Puttkamer worked now with his whole energy to rob us of the same and in April 1897 von Puttkamer declared that Elundu, Etome, Bonatanga, and Batoki was Crownland and did not belong to us any more, although he, on the 16/8 1885 and 4/2 1886, recognized us as the legal and only owners of this territory. The same of which we had a chart signed and certified and official Titledeeds given by the German Government was now granted to a certain Mr. Oechelhäuser and another part to the West African Cocoa Farming C:y L:d, Bibundi. It was in such a manner the German Government at the Cameroons treated me and showed their thankfulness. Mr. Waldau sold his right of these estates to me in 1899 [see Part IV below]. The Swedish anthem played on board His Majesty’s ship, ‘Bismark’, the twenty-sixth of January, 1885 and the toast for Sweden and me, seemed now to have been the greatest mockery in the world, and it has shown me that the truth of the German race of which Captain v. Kärcher said that I could be so sure of to rely on, was only a phantom and a bluff. ‘Sicut non ad astra veniat.’.8 Now I began to try to get some compensation through our Swedish foreign office from the German Government in Berlin, but without result. Of course the German authorities seemed to me to be somewhat ashamed, but on the other hand they had already given away or sold my property and pay me they would not do. However, they promised to give some compensation, and there were many negotiations on this subject carried on during several years. But I expect with the purpose that the German Colonial Office, so it seemed to me, would spin out the time. At last I received a letter from Berlin with the following contents: Translation Foreign Office Colonial Department. N:o K 4717 9305

Berlin, 22nd Maj, 1902.

With regard to the discussion here in the end of March I herewith inform you that the Imperial Governor of the Cameroons, Mr. v. Puttkamer who at present is here on his leave has declared that for you giving up your rights to your estates in the German Protectorate of Cameroons, which legal claim he both as before could not approve, he from fair point of view would award you a compensatory of damages in Crownland. It should be urgently desired, if this affair as I assume in the said way corresponding with your wishes could be brought to a finish during the time while Governor v. Puttkamer is staying here which will be to the end of June this year. Foreign Office Colonial Department at the Command Hellwig.

I did not think very much of the above letter knowing very well von Puttkamer’s character and I dare say, much better than his own countrymen did. However, I

THE GERMAN INVASION 1884–1885

53

took the trouble and travelled to Berlin, which trip I had made several times before, for this same reason, to hear what could be meant by the ‘fair point of view’, that v. Puttkamer had mentioned, and a meeting was held at the Colonial Office 4:th June 1902. I brought with me the above-mentioned chart to our conference. There was a certain assessor, by name Gleim, present and I told him that I had a chart with me which was signed and certified by Dr. Krabbes, and I must say that I found it very unjust that the compensation which Mr. v. Puttkamer offered me was quite without value, some territory far in the interior near Bacotta lake [Barombi ba Kota], and that I had been very badly treated on the part of the German Governor in Cameroons. Mr. v. Puttkamer said that was a great lie, I had never let my estates be measured or surveyed and he could not recognize my claims and I had no chart. I then showed him the same and asked him to be good enough and beg my pardon, but he ran away and the meeting was dissolved. The following day I wrote a letter to von Puttkamer of which I still have a copy: Berlin 5:th, June, 1902 Trans. At my visit to the Foreign Office you uttered in the presence of Assessor Gleim that it was not true that I had in my possession a chart officially signed by Dr. Krabbes and although I put the same at once before him and you, you still have not asked my pardon. I herewith require that you withdraw this accusation in the course of a week. In the meanwhile I sign only Knut Knutson.

Not a single word of excuse, but such a man was von Puttkamer and his character is revealed through his acts. I have many times thought, does the German Emperor know this case? Afterwards I took the German Fiscus before the Court in Berlin, but my lawyer told me that my case would take a very long time and be very expensive too. However, I feel sure that every honest man reading this book will be fully convinced of the unjust treatment which from the side of the German authorities has been shown me so greatly. I don’t think that the German Emperor knew of this case. If he had known the way such men as von Puttkamer and others carried on he wouldn’t have been pleased. Perhaps it will seem to many that this case is too old and of no use to mention, but I consider that an unjust act should never be too old to be revealed. Therefore I see no reason for me to hide the truth. Perhaps these relations will be a lesson for foreigners not to place capital or labour in colonies where the justice is in the hands of men like v. Leist and v. Puttkamer, who gave their officials free hands. I hope that the Germans now, for the sake of the prosperity of the natives, never will get Cameroon back. I am not an enemy of Germany; on the contrary, but I must react against what I have seen of abominable rule by such men as von Puttkamer, von Leist and others, their companions.

54

KNUT KNUTSON

Editor’s Notes 1. Among the many other works on the establishment of the German Protectorate, see Rudin 1938, Ardener, S.G., 1968, Ardener, E.W. 1996, Njeuma 1989 and Stoecker 1960, 1968. 2. For Zöller’s own account of events, see Part IV, 6. . 3. See Ardener, S.G. 1968, for more on Schmidt. 4. For Letongo, and his role in the treaties between Buea and the Germans, see E.W. Ardener 1996: 68, 73, 74, 134, 136. 5. See Part IV, 1 and 2, below, which shows that Soden clearly acknowledged their legal rights. 6. Knutson’s archives contain a copy of Soden’s ordinance. The text is also given in Rudin 1938. 7. See Dusén, F., ‘Om Kamerunomradt’, Ymer, 1894: 65–120 for an illustrated account of his visit. 8. He seems to mean ‘that’s not the way to get to heaven’.

CHAPTER 5

Travel in the Interior 18851

At the end of 1885 Mr. Waldau and I decided to make explorations in the interior over Barombi ba Kotta to Barombi ba M’Bu, and if possible travel to the north part of the Colony and discover the Rumbi-River. We had prepared for this trip a few weeks and engaged as interpreter and headman for the expedition N’dibe Ekoa, a native of Bonjongo, who had accompanied Mr. Qv. Thomson on his journey to Barombi ba M’bu2 and the further mentioned men from Bonjongo and Mapanja: N’boene, Molue, Mokomea, Bello, Malumbe, Sam, Njie and Mbua. We were altogether two white men and nine black Bakweri. All were armed with Winchesters and Snider rifles and five men carried only cartridges besides their guns. Waldau and I carried our guns and revolvers. We didn’t take with us any provisions, only some quinine, tea, sugar, tobacco, cloth and beads. We had taken as much as we considered to be necessary for a time of thirty days. On our first day of travelling [21st May 1885] we reached Soppo where we stayed with King Mosinge, who showed us very great hospitality, which we of course had to repay with a dash [contrast the epitome of Waldau’s version, IV, 2 below]. The following morning we started and passed through Soppo Makongo [Great Soppo], where King Boloo [=Woloa], who was very rich and very old, resided. It was said that he possessed four hundred cows and one thousand goats. He had, a long time ago, about 1858, together with some Mukunda people, killed the old King William of Bimbia at Tikko market and was obliged to live in the bush at Mokono-side, during many years. Since that happened the Isubu people had burnt the towns of Mokunda and Soppo and killed two of his sons.3 The palaver was now settled and the old King, who had lived in the bush for twentyseven years, was just occupied in building up his houses again, when we passed the place. His sons’ and daughters’ sons were old men, so I consider this old man to be at least eighty years of age. He was known to beg, ‘too much’ as N’dibe Ekoa said. He was the biggest beggar-king of the mountain and for that reason we didn’t stay with him. When we passed he came to the road and begged tobacco from us and got a few leaves. I have never seen a man so like a[n Egyptian] mummy as this haggard old king.

56

KNUT KNUTSON

The next night we slept at Momange of Lisoka. These people whom I had met before, having been there and traded in India rubber, were not so very well known [sic]. However, they threatened to catch N’dibe, our interpreter and wouldn’t allow us to pass through the town, but when we told them plainly that we were prepared to pass by force and that, if they should try to prevent us, we must declare war on them at once, they let us understand that they would be satisfied with a dash. We told them that we had no reason for dashing them any more and started for a small place called Massuma. During our journey we passed two small towns, Ekona ba Benge [Ekon’ a Mbenge] and Moeta. Massuma was the first village belonging to Bomboko, which we passed on our road and seemed to be a very poor place. We were obliged to stay here over one day because of the heavy rain which had fallen, then we started from here for Baffia where we stayed overnight the 25th of May 1885. The King and people were very good and great hospitality was shown us. About five English miles from Baffia are four small rivers of which one flows to the Meme and the other three to the Mungo. But the most interesting fact was that we here found a very broad belt of sea sand and many shells of molluscs. At Ikata I saw, when passing on the road to Mungo, the same kind of white sand and molluscs. Further down not far from Bowkway [=Bokwai], lying eastward from N’Binga [=Bwenga] to the Mungo side, I met the white sandbank the first time when passing these very unhealthy forests in the end of October 1884. In the following chapters I shall more particularly go into this matter. From Dievo we started early in the morning on the 26th May and were travelling on a very even road to a place by name Mesange, the last Bomboko-village where the old creek Barombi formerly has been. After a short march we reached the Barombi ba Kotta and were with hospitality received by the natives. As the Smallpox had broken out in the town, which is situated on a small island lying right in the middle of the sea [=lake], we were anxious lest our carriers might be infected. The people were singing threnodies [laments] for a man, who had died a few hours before we arrived. There was no abundance of food here and the inhabitants looked very thin and shabby. I told our carriers to be careful and not take their meals in the native houses. As a dash, the king offered to cook for us a small dog, but we refused to receive it; however, we thanked him. The food was at that time scarce and it was very expensive to live in this place. Near the town were several very high cotton-trees (Erie-dendron anfractuosum) in which many thousand parrots used to rest in the evening. These birds were considered by the Barombipeople to be holy and could only be caught at a certain time in the year, and then only by men, who had permission according to the law of the Juju. We left Barombi ba Kotta the following day and arrived at Baiji [sometimes Baji, or Baije]. Mr. Waldau, who was going at the head of the expedition, found, when we arrived at Baiji, that the people had just tied a poor woman, who was accused of having killed her own child, born only a few days before, by witchcraft. She had just drunk the bitter water (sassawood) [=sasswood] but did not vomit up the same and was therefore declared guilty of the crime and should just be killed, when Mr. Waldau arrived and made her free and required the King immediately with his hand on the Bible to promise not to kill the woman. The King was not willing to do so, and a very long palaver was the consequence of this trouble. We

TRAVEL IN THE INTERIOR 1885

57

kept the woman in a small house where two men watched her, but early in the morning the witchwoman ran away from us and although we tried to get her back she never came in sight of us anymore. We had difficulty in getting a guide but at last we obtained one and arrived after a march through very well kept farms of maize, yams and groundnuts at a large town by name, Bakundu ba Bakea [Bakka or Baakaaa in Waldau, IV, 2). This town had about 1,000–1,200 inhabitants and the King had twenty-three slaves. There was plenty of food here and also cheap. We as well as our carriers felt very comfortable here. That was the case especially with Wokomia, who was our cook and also the butcher. We made a treaty of friendship with the King and had the great pleasure of being present at some festivities for Nyangbé, of whom the women used to invoke help when they wished to become pregnant with child, and the hunters when they wished to be successful in hunting. In the house of the King there were hanging in the roof some laths on which were fixed fibres and palm leaves making a canopy over the throne in a rectangular form. This showed that the town had as their special tutelary God the Nyangbé. The people told us that if anyone stole in the town whether king or son of a king he would be sold at once as a slave to another town. From this place we had decided to try to travel to Barombi ba M’Bu, but these Bakundu-people were much afraid of elephants, which lived in the large forest near the lake, and often attacked men. Rev. Thomson had been attacked by large herds of elephants when he tried to go this route. We thought that we should have better luck than Mr. Thomson, and went away, but having been on the way about an hour, the expedition was surrounded by many elephants. Our carriers ran away and Waldau and I understood that it was not possible to pass through this dark, swampy, dense forest. The elephants were running around us in the very high bush with trumpet-signals to one another. We decided to leave Ekumbi ba Bonschi and make an attempt from Bakundu ba Boa. We started from that place with only three Bakundu-men and our Bakweri-men, Mokomea, N’bome and Mollue [otherwise spelled N’boene and Moluwe], and some men from Bakundu ba Boa, and arrived after a very tiresome march at Barombi ba M’Bu. The lake was visited the first time by Rev. Thomson, and at the end of 1883 by Mr. Tomscek.4 The town had, in 1885, sixty-five houses and the people seemed to be very poor. The lake was very rich in fish, which the natives caught with very large nets [or fixed traps – see Waldau below]. The natives were very happy to see us and the king presented us a small dog. I said, that we white men do not eat dogs, but should like much more to have some fish. The king considered this to be very foolish. The people were very clever in making clay pots. Every house was a small pottery and the women seemed to me to be most skilful and very industrious. The Barombi tribe is, according to what King Mussakka told me, the oldest people of all the races living in Cameroon territory and more will be said about them afterwards. They lived during many years at the big creek called Barombi. The town was much infested with big rats, which are so abundant and impertinent that during the night they attacked both the carriers and me. They tried to bite, especially our feet, while we were sleeping. We had to put some watchmen, who in the night sat with sticks in their hands to protect their sleeping friends.

58

KNUT KNUTSON

We returned the following day to Bakundu ba Boa and on the 6th of June we started early in the morning and passed through Bonge Bombanda. Here we reached another tribe and afterwards Bonge Ombele, we stayed during the night at Bonge ba Leanny. Our cloth and tobacco was now exhausted and we had to try to get home as soon as possible. We had passed a large river by name Meme, which we considered to be one Rio del Rey. It was of course a great mistake, but at any rate probably we were not the first white men who had been up this river. In the 16th and 17th centuries, according to tradition, the white slave dealers had been there. We now tried to get down to the coast and after a very hard march we arrived late in the evening the 7th of June at Love, (Balundu-people), where we met a man who said, that he was a king from Old Calabar and that his name was Yellow Duke or Nametin,5 but he was a slave of the King Duke of Old Calabar. He told us that he was the richest man in Old Calabar and that this town and the whole country belonged to him. He was in fact a very rich man and could also boast of it. We got an interpreter from Yellow Duke and started the following day and passed through Barombi ba Ngongo, Bonge, Baije and passed Meme at Bavonanjanga, where we found the white sea sand and some molluscs. We stopped for the night at Baije by Foe. From this place we started on the following morning and passed through a very extensive plain covered with five-six feet high grass and here and there some palmtrees. At a place high up on a hill we had a very fine view over the sea. We reached now Lombe [Lome?] and Kooke Lome and slept in the last mentioned Bomboko town. We had now been travelling through dark forests where the sun never penetrates, and passing through Lisonbe, Boando Boma, Likingi, we arrived sick, hungry and tired at Batokka Bamoso. Some of the carriers and I had severe fever, and only with great difficulty were able to walk but, nursed very well by our old watchful friend Waldau, we soon recovered. We had been away for a period of thirty-one days of which twenty-five were marching days, during which we had performed a distance of three hundred and twenty English miles, about fourteen English miles per day and had passed fifty-five villages of which twenty-four had never before been visited by a white man. Through this journey we had ascertained that the river Meme seemed to be the most southeasterly river of the Rio del Rey district and that the river Oonge [Onge, Waldau’s Oange] was not of any use as a means of communication. We found during our travels, that the vegetation in the primeval, dark forests was very rich and that there grew very large trees of mahogany and ebony, the latter with white sap wood and black heartwood, red-wood, oak (holly) very hard, red-brown, and difficult to work. Up to 1850 the English navy used the last named instead of armour plating, the wood is so hard that a bullet would not penetrate more than an inch into the same, when shot from a Winchester gun at a distance of ten feet. We found at Batekka the large Mangrove-forests, which stretch through the whole territory from Oonge-river down to Lagos. Behind the Mangrove, we meet the Raphia Vinifera. In this region above the Mangrove-vegetation grow the wine palm trees, (Phoenix Spinosa), Dracena, Pandanus. Of the palmtrees there is one which is very abundant and very much liked by all, also known by the ancient peoples. This palm-tree, Elais Guineensis is the most valuable plant of West Africa, and that because of its oil. The trunk of this tree is often fifteen to

TRAVEL IN THE INTERIOR 1885

59

twenty yards high. The fruits, which are one to three, have the form of a large raspberry weighing from fifteen to twenty-five pounds each and are enclosed with a very thick and flesh-like receptacle. Each fruit consists of three hundred to six hundred small nuts of the size of a common walnut. The outside flesh of these small yellow-red nuts gives palmoil and according to trials made in Cameroons we used to gain about one-half to one pound of oil from a tree. The nutshells and fibres weigh the most and the palm-kernels weigh about two to four pounds. The culture of palm-oil is known since ancient times and is described in Plato’s ‘Atlantis’, so the country Atlantis must have had this plant. The oil-palm only grows on the west coast of Africa from Senegal down to St. Paolo Loanda. The animals which we noticed during our journey were left in peace, because the principal reason was to make the journey as quickly as possible. The elephants were very common and in the forests around [Barombi] M’Bu Lake, I dare say, there were herds of several hundred, and the same attacked anyone coming their way. Most of them are caught in holes which the natives dig in the ground being thirty feet long, twenty feet wide and fifteen feet deep. In the bottom of this pit they put twelve poles, which are cut very sharp in the upper end and driven down to a length of four to six feet in the ground. The grave is hidden very well by sticks on which they put ground and plant some grass and bush so that the elephants can’t suspect any danger and fall into the trap where they suffer severely. I remember a German gentleman who was killed by an elephant at Mungo river not far from Ellikki in 1887. He was an agent for Jantzen and Thormählen in the Cameroon river and was coming down the Mungo when he saw an elephant going in the river where the water that time was very shallow. He began to fire at the beast, but without any result. The elephant came rushing against the canoe, and the man could not dive or swim away as could his black companions, so he was killed by a blow of the elephant’s trunk. Another man, a very rich Englishman, who was one day in Bibundi while I was away, and had his own yacht, was killed by an elephant not far from Gaboon. We did not see an antelope or a chimpanzee during the journey. When Mr. Waldau and I came home the rainy season began to set in strongly, so we began collecting very fine species of birds, snakes, insects, and we also did some trade in rubber. One day in December a black man came up with a letter from the Chancellor v. Puttkamer, wherein he asked me to be kind enough to assist a Doctor Bernard Schwarz on his journey to the interior and, as I should go home in February or March the next year, I thought it would be best for me to make the trip with Dr. S.; moreover, I believed that perhaps I was doing the German Government a service and could have some chance of opening a trade to the interior.6 So I answered v. P. that we would do our best to assist Dr. S. But this gentleman was, I am very sorry to say, very afraid of the natives and of everything that he thought risky and at the same time he used to boast so very much of the power of Germany and the Emperor and Bismark, and also of his very great knowledge of all things. The interpreter told him many times that, ‘it was no use to make the boasting-palaver too much, because the kings of all the towns took Dr. S. to be foolish’. When Dr. Schwarz, Lieut. v. Prittwitz and Mr. Angerer came to us at Mapanja, we had a small green very poisonous Atheirs snake in the bedroom. This had been

60

KNUT KNUTSON

our companion for months and he had hidden himself amongst the bamboo mats on the roof. Dr. Schwarz having heard of the snake would not sleep in the room and was sitting in an easy chair throughout the night, and seemed very discouraged. Even Angerer was very frightened, but Lieutenant v. Prittwitz did not seem to be anxious. There were many plans made to catch the snake but this was not so easily done. However, sometime after, I shot him with my revolver. We engaged forty-five carriers from Bonjongo and Mapanja and I promised to help them inside so far as to Barombi ba M’bu, and on the 21st December we started for Lisoka, where we stopped the first night. Lieutenant v. Prittwitz and Mr. Angerer were ill with fever, so we had to engage some carriers for them and I proposed to the two sick gentlemen to go back to Cameroon by Canoe, when we reached Mungo river. In Lisoka we had some trouble with the mean old king, and if I had not been so well known and had understood how to treat the people, some of us might have been killed. However, we passed Lisoka without any disturbance. On the 24th of December 1885 we arrived at Bakundu ba Nambehle and sent away both our companions by a canoe, which left the same day. I decided to stay with Mr. Richardson7 over Christmas Day and we heard a very good sermon in his church. On the 26th of December we left our very hospitable friend and his very kind wife, both of whom were to be admired very much for living alone for years without any comfort and pleasure, only working for the prosperity and education of the natives. So we went away and passed through very thickly wooded forests to a place by name Mundame,8 from where we marched to Mokonja and further up to Mambanda, a very large place with splendid plantations and so well cultivated that I never have seen such fine farms during my stay in Africa. In Mambanda the natives cultivated ground-peas and large farms of maize. When we reached Mambanda’s slave-towns, the old King of Mambanda met us, and now the interpreter began with the old yarn about the Emperor, Prince Bismark, and Dr. Schwarz. In fact these three men were always spoken of as if they had been above all other things in the whole world. The King listened to Dr. S. talk about the thousands and thousands of soldiers and all the big cannon, and when he heard that Dr. Schwarz also was a very clever man, who understood nearly everything upon this earth, he asked that he should allow him to put a question to him. The king said, that he understood, that now he had gotten a very big man to his place and that it was rather too much an honour for him to receive such a very clever fellow and prominent man as Dr. S. At the same time he was very pleased, because there had lately been a disease in the maize, which perhaps the Doctor could help or teach him how he should cure this disease on the plants. Now the Doctor proved his incompetence and asked me what he should answer. I said, ‘I don’t know, I have warned you the whole time against your ostentatious manner and now I hope that you will follow my advice and not to go on further in this way, as we will only have trouble by your boasting. Boasters here amongst the natives of Africa are very little respected and I would be glad, if you had never begun with the fashion.’ When the King did not get any satisfactory answer to his question, he told Dr. S. that he did not find him the clever man that the Doctor considered himself to be, and therefore he wished

TRAVEL IN THE INTERIOR 1885

61

to give him a piece of advice, so the King said that ‘Dr. S. acted very foolishly in going to Africa, he would have done much better by staying at home in Germany and cooking the food for the old women.’ The carriers and I were laughing but Dr. S. was cursing the King. This advice was very logical and to the point, and showed that the King despised a man who couldn’t keep his word. To me, the King said, that he had heard of Waldau and me and knew that we had been at Barombi ba M’Bu, and were good men and liked by the natives, but he could not understand what kind of a man this Dr. S. was, who had spoken so much nonsense. He was already known over all for his boasting. On the following day we left the King of Mambanda and arrived at Ekkelivindi [Ikiliwindi].9 The king of this town was a very nice and good man, who told me that the Bafaramen had decided not to allow us to go further inside the country. Ekkelivindi belongs to Bafaramen, the old former powerful tribe, and that it was not a demonstration against Waldau or me, but against Dr. S. whom he considered, had come for the purpose of bringing German soldiers into the country. He had just obtained some news from Bafaramani, about this matter, that the same tomorrow would demonstrate against us and would advise me not to go further on into the interior. I told him that we had forty-five men armed with guns and we should certainly if we liked, pass through, and that we were not coming to fight and not for the purpose of trade not having bought a single ivory tusk. The next day several thousand men came marching through Ekkelivindi and when they passed our house, where Dr. S. and I were sitting in the door, they stopped and fired their guns and after having done so marched on. Dr S. was now very excited and would not march to the interior and asked me, that we should return at once, which I would not do as it would have been to lose our reputation. The next day I went alone to Batan, where I negotiated with the Bafaramani and they asked me to come to some places, Mafura or Maduma, where I should have a chance of buying plenty of ivory from them. They told me that they were in relationship with Baiji and also Ekumbi and Bavo, and had seen Waldau and me at these places the last rainy season. A very long time ago their people had lived at Meme, where they did a large slave-trade with the coast people, but famine, sickness and witchcraft had caused them to travel further to the north part of the Barombi ba M’Bu. I did not want to go on to Balue and Batonga, as the last named people were bushmen and the Bafaramani had a very long time ago traded with Moko far to the coast and they did not like us to go any further. I told Dr. Schwarz, that the Bafaramani would not allow him to pass into the interior, but that I could pass with some few men to Baduma [Maduma above] and Mafura. Dr. Schwarz would not march inside the country, he was more and more excited, every day he asked me to return. I sent a messenger to some of the Bafaramani to come to negotiate, but there was no possibility of persuading Dr. S. to go with me so he decided to turn back. When we were marching between Ekkelivindi and Mambanda, the Mokonje, Mambanda and Ekkelivindi villages were out to hunt antelopes, having many large nets and about one thousand men, who were driving the game into the nets behind which men were standing, armed with guns and spears. During our march the people fired some guns, and Dr. S. believed that the natives came to fire at us,

62

KNUT KNUTSON

he began to run away but I found him, hidden below a tree in the forest. This was very foolish and lowered him in the eyes of the carriers. They were very amused and made a song about him, which they sang on the way. ‘Mokalla Doctolo okawongo eh, eh, Bafarami akende lisonge [lisongo] eh, eh, Njama ba [nyama la] Kave alo ...tene Litanga [la] Doctolo weli bobe [wove],’ which means, ‘The white doctor fears very much when Bafaramani go to hunt yes, yes, Fresh10 meat of antelope very good. The toes of the doctor are very bad.’ (Dr. S. had a bad toe.) The carriers were singing this song as far down as the Mungo River and the natives meeting us, when they heard the song, laughed very heartily, and fell down upon their knees. The passing natives were crying ‘tata kokko eh navelio [nwa mweli o], Mokalla Doctolo okawongo’, translated: ‘My father and my friend, I think I’m dying. The white Doctor is very frightened’.11 We returned to Cameroon, where Governor v. Soden asked me, why we did not go further inside the country, and I answered by telling him to ask Dr. Schwarz or the carriers, they could give him full particulars of the matter.12 If Mr. Waldau, my brave friend, and I had made this journey, I’m quite sure that we should have reached far inside the interior, but with Dr. S. it was impossible to go any further forward. I had only promised him to go with him to Barombi ba M’Bu. In Cameroons I received the sad news that my dear friend and assistant J.A. Gustafson was dead. I felt very sorry to have lost this my truehearted and dear companion. Gustafson was richly endowed by nature; he was very much loved by the natives who never forget his mild and pure character. He was indeed a very noble man, who very often used to say, ‘The more I learn to know the Bakweri the more I like them.’ He spoke the Bakweri language perfectly, he was a very skilful hunter, and seldom went home with an empty bag. He was a brave man and at the same time a very kind man. I have seldom or never met a man who was so intelligent, and Waldau very often said that he knew none of his friends from school who possessed such gifts as Gustafson did. We wept when we brought to mind all the dangers and difficulties which we had shared together with our deceased mutual friend. When Waldau and I have met again and the olden times have been discussed we have always spoken about Gustafson as one of the best and finest men we met on our way through life. He was, as King Mossasso of Mapanja said, when he heard of his death, ‘Mokoto – Molofo Mambakki Moto.’ (‘He was a young man but he had sense like an old man.’). He died of fever and worms, which destroyed his liver.

* * * * * Extract from my diary. The ascent of the small Cameroon-peak on the 21st April 1885 We were just preparing for a hunting expedition to the interior, when a young Bakweri-man came and informed me that he, the same morning, had seen two elephants not far from the town and asked Gustafson and me if we would like to join him and hunt the elephants. As I had lately been feverish, I told Mr. Gustafson to

TRAVEL IN THE INTERIOR 1885

63

go with Molla Mosingi and he did so and had fired on one of the elephants many shots and wounded the beast severely. The following day on the 19th April although it was raining hard, we started with two natives. We were searching the spurs [spoor?], as the blood of the wounded animal had been washed away by the rain and it was difficult for Gustafson to recognize the nature of the country. We built a small hut for the night on a hill and sent a man to fetch Molla, for he had not had time to go with us. On the following day Molla came and we soon got the spurs, which lead in the direction of the small Cameroon-peak, called by the natives, Etindeh. We had followed the same about three hours, when a very cold wind from Mongo ma Loba [the peak] began to blow, and the sky was covered with a dark mass of clouds. We understood that we had to expect a tornado and were running as fast as possible to get over the grassy plains and reach the forest near the foot of the peak, where we could seek shelter under the trees against the storm and rain. We just reached the forest, when the tornado broke out. It was terrible, the trees did not give us the protection we had expected, and the sky seemed to us to have opened and a very heavy storm of wind was blustering. The thunderclaps came repeatedly and were immediately followed by the flashes of lightning and the cold rain poured down in torrents. The natives felt the cold very much and were crying with pain. We tried to put up a piece of oil-cloth but owing to the storm, it was impossible to hold the same fast. The tornado increased in velocity and danger and around us big trees were falling – one fell with an awful crash very near to the place where we stood, but without hurting us. The natives were seized with fright and ran away but returned soon, finding it no better anywhere else. I considered it to be very risky to stay here longer and told the carriers that we had to try to reach the very large cotton-tree which we could see standing about five hundred yards from us, and now we began a march which I will never forget. In front and behind us trees were falling and we were obliged to keep watch to get clear of branches, which threatened us from all sides. At last we reached the cotton-tree. It was a real giant and hollow too, so in this little room we found shelter. We used our cutlasses to scrape away some firewood from the inside walls. My matches, which I always carried with me in a small tin, soon helped us to get a fire in our temporary house. We fried some birds, which had been shot in the morning, dried our clothes and rested a few hours. In the meantime the storm and rain had diminished and finding that my clothes were all right again, I asked Molla if he could escort Gustafson and me up to the top of the small Cameroon-peak. Several tries had been made to visit the peak, but only one before us had reached the summit and it was Gustav Mann, who visited the peak on the 30th of December 1862. He had been sent out by the English botanist, known to the whole world, Sir Hooker. Mr. Mann had made very fine collections for Sir Hooker’s account, especially from the grass-plains at Mann’s Spring, but Mr. Mann’s declaration that the summit of the small Cameroon-peak was not covered with vegetation, is not correct. When, twenty-three years later, Gustafson and I visited the small peak, the summit of the same was covered with trees not so very high but with stems of good size, showing at least one hundred years of age. They are dwarfed by the furious

64

KNUT KNUTSON

winds, which do not allow them to grow higher than about twenty-five or thirty ft. I fancy that Mr. Mann had made a mistake, believing that Molio Ofasse [Ovase] was Mongo ma Etindeh. If it was foggy it would be very easy to make a mistake in such a way. The heavy winds blowing do not allow the trees to grow high on the small Cameroon-peak. Molla Mosingi and I had found a road, which we thought could bring us up to the small peak, and the following morning on the 21st of April 1885 we started for the mountain ridge, from which we should try to reach our goal. The afore-named ridge carried up to a peak by name Molio Ofasso, – ‘The hill of the mountain God,’13 which is situated southeast from the Etindeh. This small peak is about eight-hundred feet lower than the last-named, so the ascent of Molio Ofasso was not so difficult but when we would climb up to the Etindeh, we had a very hard task. We were both young and had a great deal of experience in mountain travel but many times it seemed to us impossible to get up the steep rocky walls. By catching lianas and roots with our hands we swung ourselves upward and passed places which were before considered to be unreachable. I had to take great care that the loose boulder-stones should not come rolling and strike the man climbing behind, because at such an event he would have been lost. On both sides we had a terrible abyss opened at our feet. One false step would have meant immediate death. One of the Mapanja men wanted to return, he felt dizzy, but I told him to be quiet, soon we would be up at the top and after two and a half hours climb we reached the top of Etindeh. The small peak was covered with trees of no large dimensions, but the natives climbed up the trees and exclaimed at the beautiful sight so we followed their example and viewed the country situated below. The Cameroon Mountains and Mongo ma Loba were covered with snow to such an extent as I never had seen before. The air was very clear and I had a view both to the south and to the north side from the peak and could see both the mouth of the Cameroon river and also the estuary of Rio del Rey. We could see Fernando Po so clearly, that it seemed to be only at a distance of some few miles. Then we made an excursion around the peak. The flora on the summit was very rich, a great many more plants grew here than at a corresponding height of the other mountains. The reason for this must be that the vegetation here has through the locality remained free from outside influence and disturbance. I fancy that the plains at the foot of the small peak are very interesting in many respects. I believe that this place must have been cultivated a long time ago for I noticed many small heaps of stones which fully shows that this country once must have been carefully dug. On one of the hills I saw a small piece of glazed clay from a pot, which I brought home with me. I asked Molla if some natives had lived there before but he answered that neither he nor his forefathers had ever heard that Bakweri had been here. I am sure that with regard to the archaeology especially around the small peak and at the Batoki territory would be of great value as a place for researches. We went down the very steep way to our provisional hut in the cotton-tree and killed a good deal of game during the few days we stayed there and made several discoveries in natural science at the very old interesting plains around the small Cameroon peak.

TRAVEL IN THE INTERIOR 1885

65

The ascent of Mongo ma Loba 7/2, 1885 Many times I had decided to ascend the great Cameroon peak, but the journey had always been put off, because the Bakweri were frightened to go so near their God’s house, and they had also great difficulty in breathing as soon as they came above a height of nine to ten-thousand-feet. I engaged five Mapanja men and took with me a young countryman by name Mr. Olof Ljungstedt, who lately had arrived from Sweden. We started from Mapanja on the 3rd of February 1886 and arrived the same day in the afternoon at Mann’s Spring. I brought with me provisions, blankets and a tent. It was now nearly one and a half years since I left the old lovely place, but what a change had taken place up at Mann’s Spring. The houses were fallen in decay. In the garden the grass now stood six feet high; the fence around our yard was broken down. Everything looked neglected and the place seemed to me now to be even more dreary than the first day I arrived up to the same. Another Swede, Mr. Samuelson, accompanied us to Mann’s Spring and when we started for the peak the next day he insisted on going before us. I warned him but he would not listen to my advice so we missed him. All the peaks and hills were very well known by me before, since the time Mr. Waldau, Levin and Gustafson lived in the vicinity of the grassy plains. We stopped during the night in the burnt house of the Buea people and I sent two men to search for the missing Mr. Samuelson but they returned with the news that Mr. Sambo, as they called him, probably had been caught by Mokasse the bad God of the Bakweri, and that it was no use looking for him any more. In the neighbourhood of the burnt house grew many European plants such as Myosotis, Erica, Veronica and Genista – old friends from Sweden. In the evening of the 6th the thermometer showed only 9 degrees Celcius. We had brought with us some sleeping bags and caps of felt which Mr. Waldau had received as a present from our celebrated countryman Professor A.E. Nordenskiöld. Strange that this cloth which he had used on his voyages up near the North Pole, now was so useful to us near the equator. The following morning we started very early and marched up along the mountain’s ridge and after having walked one hour we saw the Mongo ma Loba. Shortly afterwards we noticed that our carriers one after the other began to be sick and declared that they were not fit to go forward any more. We felt that the respiration was very accelerated and the heart was beating very hard and there was a heavy pressure on the corners of the eye, and we also felt some pain in the fingertips. One of my carriers was very sick and we had to make tea and cover him with blankets. We were now not so far from the foot of the peak and put up our tent and slept there that night. It was very cold. Of the two demijohns with water, which we brought with us, one was already empty. Early the following morning we started for Mongo ma Loba. After half an hour’s travelling we were at the foot of the peak, and we could now fully judge the difficulties, which we had before us. Of course I consider the ascent of the small Cameroon peak much more difficult, however the climb was no easy task. We first had a meal of some corned beef and cabin bread [a kind of ship’s biscuit], and then we passed over a mountain-ridge covered with grass and some

66

KNUT KNUTSON

streams of lava. The road became more and more steep. The difficulties with the respiration had increased, and we were not able to walk more than five minutes at a time. When the march had been going on during two and a half hours, we had done the most difficult part of our climb. We climbed still for half an hour until we reached the crater. The same seemed to me round and about 700–1000 feet deep and about an English mile in circumference and with a diameter of about 2–300 feet at the bottom. The walls were covered with black lava ashes and 3–400 feet down I saw a yellow stuff which I assume to have been a sulphide product; a hard wind was blowing. The stay here was not very pleasant and we decided to march further on; after fifteen minutes we caught sight of the Three Sisters, the highest peaks of the Mongo ma Loba. If we before had got a storm we now got a full hurricane. On both sides we had steep abysses and only by crawling could we manage to get forward. Carefully and slowly we passed the dangerous places, and soon we came to a more spacious place, where we noticed three small heaps of stones, which told their silent story, that the place had been visited before. I could not find any letter or bottle. We had carried with us a small tin, in which we put the following written evidence in Swedish, English and German: The 7th of February, 1886 Mongo ma Loba was visited by the undersigned; we emptied a glass for Sweden. All countrymen, who after us may visit the place, will kindly be asked to put their names here below. Mongo ma Loba the 7th February 1886 Knut Knutson Olof Ljungstedt We put up the Swedish flag for a minute, but the dear old flag very nearly blew away. Almost half of the peak seemed to me to have been disturbed and it was very dangerous to reach. We could not examine one of the stone heaps owing to the risk. The hurricane was terrible. Thick fog covered the lower part of the Mongo ma Loba and gave us no chance of a view. We stopped about half an hour on the peak and were glad to begin the descent. The lips got very dry and cracked and the ears were signing and there was a heavy pressure on the eyes, and the nostrils felt very uncomfortable. We were glad when the crawling on hands and knees was over and we could begin to walk in our usual human way. The ascent from the foot of the peak took three and one-half hours and the descent one and a half hours. When we reached the camping place the natives had drunk all the water (this happened to most of the people before us) with the exception of one bottle, and it was rather unpleasant after such hard work not to have enough water, and only be allowed to drink it by drops. No sleep was to be thought of that night and early the following morning we were again marching. The want of water was a mighty impulse, which drove us forward and after having marched very quickly we arrived in the course of four and a half hours at Mann’s Spring. When we came near that place, we found a written paper fixed on a bush near the road, where it was written: ‘Sambo passed here this morning, slept at Mann’s Spring last night, was yesterday running about on the mountains during the whole day.’ We were glad that he was in the land of the living, and departed the following day for

TRAVEL IN THE INTERIOR 1885

67

Mapanja. That was my last visit on the lovely grass plains, where during a whole year we had been living quite an open air life, hunting and collecting, admiring the wonderful magnificent nature of the high peaks and the passes of the Cameroon Mountains. A few weeks afterwards I started for Europe with all my collections, on board a German steamer and had a very rough voyage of forty-five days from the Cameroons to Hamburg.

Editor’s Notes 1. As noted in the introduction to this volume, Knutson published an article in Ymer, 1886, which closely follows the text here. Further, George Waldau wrote several accounts of his explorations in Cameroon of which that in Ymer, 1885, is given in English translation here in Part IV, 1. 2. Quintin Thomson was born in 1840 of Scottish parents who settled in Liverpool. He came to the Cameroons in 1864 and married Bessie, second daughter of Saker, in 1867. He explored the hinterland and established a station at Mapanja. For his treaty with the chiefs of Bonjongo see S.G. Ardener 1968/1996: 58. His death is given by the Missionary Herald as 29 December, two days after his forty-third birthday. A portrait can be found in the Missionary Herald, 1/4/1884. See S.G. Ardener 1968/1996: 11, 17. His death (given as on 28 December 1883) is movingly described by Thomas Lewis, who was present. 3. See Ardener, E.W 1959: 29; 1996: 48, 141n.4; Quintin Thomson, Missionary Herald, 2 December 1882, quoted at length in Ardener, S.G. 1968/96: 58n.70. 4. See Part IV, 5 on Rogozinski. 5. cf. Zintgraff, Nord-Kamerun, 1895, and epitomes by Chilver (1966 and 1999). 6. For Schwarz’s own account of this, less than successful, trip see his Kamerun: Reise in der Hinterland der Kolonie, Leipzig, 1886: 323–7. Zintgraff also discusses this in his Nord-Kamerun, 1898: 78–9; see also the English epitome of Esser’s account of his own, later, expedition, by Chilver and Röschenthaler 2001. 7. Calvin J. Richardson, a West Indian, opened Bakundu Station at Banga in January 1879; Thomas Johnson, his brother-in-law, and their two wives joined him immediately (Missionary Herald, 1 September 1879, 252–3). 8. According to Esser, Mundame was the highest navigable point up the Mungo River. It was a German government station until 1892 (Chilver and Röschenthaler 2001). 9. Esser arrived a few years later at Ikiliwindi; he describes the architecture, the town then having 300 houses. He also discusses the Bakundu custom of cannibalism. 10. The word ‘fresh’ before meat is interpolated into the translation (personal communication from Chief Efange). 11. Dr Schwartz wrote his own account of this trip (Schwartz 1886). Zintgraff also reported on Schwartz. See also Chilver and Röschenthaler 2001. 12. When Esser, Zintgraff and others passed through Ikiliwindi on their way to Bali, they were very conscious of the story of the unfortunate episode of Schwarz’s visit. In con-

68

KNUT KNUTSON

trast to Schwarz, the chief, who denied his people had attacked Schwarz, courteously received Esser and his party – who had taken the precaution of being well-prepared for any hostility which might have been shown to him, as the king must have been well aware. See Esser 1898 and Chilver and Röschenthaler 2001. 13. Ofass’a Moto [=Efas’ a Moto] is a mountain god, half man half stone – see Ardener, E.W. 1956: 107; Matute 1988: 63 and 1990: 196; in the earlier (but not later) text Matute uses the spelling Ifas’a Moto. See also Waldau’s account in this book (see Part IV, 1). The rite carried out by the late Chief Gervase Endeley on the occasion of the 1959 eruption is recorded in Ardener 1959. Matute, 1988, notes that when the Mountain erupted on 17.10.1882, barely a few hours after the death of Chief Gervase Endeley, the Bakweri people performed some rites to Efas’a Moto. Moli’ mo ‘faso might render the sense ‘Hill of Efas’ [a Moto]’. Earth tremors have been felt in recent years, with a spectacular flow of lava into the sea in 1999. A strong earth tremor with damage to property was felt at Ekona in April 2000; in June a new lava flow began. Some persons from the grasslands area to the north suggested that one of the eruptions was caused by the death of the well-known politician, Dr. ‘Pa’ Foncha.

CHAPTER 6

The Ancient Races

For how long a time has the Cameroons been populated, and what tribes have been living there, are questions that very often have occurred to me, and for which I have interested myself more than most of the white men living out in the above mentioned territory. It’s very difficult to give a true explanation about the same. We have to consider that the history of Cameroons ought to be built only upon the tradition of the natives which has passed through so many ears and mouths of generations that it must be difficult to judge what of it is true or not. However as soon as we reach the 16:th and 17:th Century we are able to compare the native tradition with the reports of the old West European. I’m glad to say that by making such a comparison I found how wonderfully the same correspond. It seems to me that the natives keep their tradition very well – much better than we white people do – and that they have a greater love and admiration for their fore-fathers than we Europeans have for ours. This is especially the fact with the natives, who have not been in contact with the white men’s culture. As soon as the natives have become civilized by the West European powers, they lose their love for the history of their own old tribe, and show contempt for the old traditions. The love of money and pleasure which are true attributes of the white men’s culture soon make the natives materialists as much as the up-to-date white men are. The materialism would have gained much more ground in Cameroons if the philanthropic work of the missionaries had not fought against it, and pushed it back. When I left Sweden in 1883 for Cameroons I met at Stockholm Phil. Dr. Hjalmar Stolpo, the well-known Swedish ethnographer and ethnologist, and he asked me to do my best and make researches and studies about history of the ancient races of the Cameroons. He asked me to make notes of everything that I could think to have a value for the history and ethnography and especially to study the different invasions in the Cameroons which is a very interesting chapter. When I returned Dr Stolpe was very busy with his excellent work on the ornamental art of the uncivilized natives of the whole world. He was so busy with this great work that he had no time for the ancient tribes of the Cameroons and he told me that I should keep my annotations and publish the same at once, but not allow any one

70

KNUT KNUTSON

to take knowledge of the same. He knew, he said, they would only publish it in their own name. I found afterwards how well he judged some of these scientific country-men of mine, and will in my work later on show how one of them, although my guest for a year out in Africa, treated me. The sources from which I have drawn my annotations out in Cameroons, I consider to be very reliable ones, and I mention the following persons to whom I’m very much indebted for all that they told me. King Njeka of Binga [Bwenga], King Attokkoro of Oron, King Mussakka of Ekumba Lyonga, King Mottute of Sanji, King Befongo and headman Eonga N’jokko of Bibundi, Kings Mosasse and Mukasse of Mapanja and Bonatanga, Mr. Sam. Brew, Mr. Burnley coloured gentleman of Victoria, the old King of Colle, Mbua Mossekao, Molla Mosingi, Jack Mossekao Sameli of Mapanja and several other Bakweri-Bomboko-BalunduEkumbi-men, as Bombe, Somba, Malombi, N’Galle, Evonje, etcetera.* The oldest tribe known in the Cameroon-territory was, according to King Attokkoro, the Ihleh or Ihlifeh tribe which formerly was a priest caste living in both places Oron and Illoanni. Oron (Rio del Rey) is still the name of a town on the north bank of the town of Illoanni, lying on the south bank of the Meme-river not far from Mongosi-Creek, which formerly was said to have been the head entrance of Meme-river and called Barombi. King Attokkoro told me the history of creation as the old Oron-priest used to say, was that at first there were only sea and sun to be found and a very small island, lying south of Cameroons and called Mondeloo (perhaps Mondeleh). The Cameroon Mountains and Fernando Po were not yet created. One day a woman came, by name Mandja, who was floating on the water and landed at Mondoleh where she bore 16 sons, all of whom were Gods and of those sons the sun God as mentioned, Oron, settled at Oron (Issangille) and the sea God, Illoan, at Illoanni. But afterwards they migrated to Onitscha and Ihleh, where they stayed many thousand years, but are still wandering towards the north. Both these Gods created, of sun and water, the salt and built up of that both the islands – Ihledao and Lyckao, Cameroon Mountain and Fernando Po. [The Gods] Oron and Illoan afterwards created the flowers and trees, especially the palmtrees, the animals, men and women. So they taught them to live, gave them priests and wealth, and the people of Oron and Illoan were during many 100 generations, the highest and the most holy priest-caste towns on the West Coast. Ekoj [=Ekoi], Odobob, Isangille and Egbo were living at that time around the Meme, Masakke, N’dean and Jaffe rivers. But when the Gods went further north to Onitscha and Ihleh the Oron and Illoan towns lost their former influence and power. The pilgrims didn’t care to come there any more. Formerly thousands used to visit the towns, and the priest also went to the north to Ihleh and Onitscha, so when the invaders, the Bantu-people from south came, the Ihleh priest caste had already lost * Editorial footnote: Readers should regard Knutson’s theories as dubious and refer instead to recent well-researched writings. Speculations like Knutson’s which mix oral history and liftings from speculative written history still come forth – suggesting, e.g. that the ‘Doualas were from Egypt, the Ibibio were Philistine, the Bali Syrian or Japanese, etc’, E.M.Chilver. They are not to be taken seriously until all the ‘hard’ evidence is secured and distinguished from suppositions. See Part I, pp. 15–17 above.

THE ANCIENT RACES

71

the greater part of its power to the tribes living on the mentioned territory. King Attokkoro considered it to be at least 16–18 generations, that is about 500–550 years, since the Bantu people burnt the temples at Oron and Illoan. He told me that already, when his father was a boy, there were two old men at Oron who as pilgrims yearly used to visit Onitscha and Ihle or Ihlefeh. He said that the Egbo and Ekoj, Issangille still keep some of the old customs and ceremonies although they have no more a holy temple, well or grove as formerly. He had no right to go further into explanation of the matter as he was under the influence of the God Oron. He could not do any more, but so much he could say, that when the sun God left Oron, he hid in the ground the old stones of the temple house, and these the Onitscha and Ihlife people have stolen away and now kept. This fact was the cause and reason why the Oron and also Illoan lost the reputation as the holy headtown for the priest caste of Africa. Now, he said, the influence of the Bantu from South and the other powerful race Fulbe and Haussa from north have spoiled all the religious systems of the old Ihle caste. He declared that Issangille Oron, Egbo and Odobob people were the descendants of the old Ihle priests and from the sun God and sea God. In fact the Balundu and Bomboko still, when I was out at Cameroon called these tribes Ihleh. Onitscha situated by [the River] Niger and Ihlifeh or Ihleh inside the Youruba [=Yoruba] country according to the literature are still the headquarters for the priest caste, which [has] a certain chief-priest who is only just a president of the court, but the members are the people who have the power. I shall here below draw up a scheme of the ancient races of the Cameroons, which I’m sure will be of a certain value for coming researchers with regard to the ancient tribes. I think that on the West African Coast the scientific work should be divided so that the history of the inhabitants should be written for the sake of opening the eyes of the educated natives, to show them that they must try to beware their own old traditions and history, which no doubt is very interesting and important for themselves. The Whites have hitherto not done very much to save the native tradition. Scheme of the Ancient Tribes at Cameroon-district, 1. Ihleh priest caste. Descendants: Isangille, Ekoi, Odobob a.o. 2. 1st Bantu. Invasion about 4th, 13th Century [sic]. Barombi, Boobees, Batekkas. 3. 2nd Bantu-invasion. Mocos and Biaframani. 13th Century. 4. 3rd Bantu-invasion, Banoko 15th Century. The first people on this scheme, the Ihleh tribe, I have already described and have only to add that I should believe that this people probably long ago have lived on Ihleao Lykkao (Fernando Po) and also on the slopes of the Cameroon Mountain and that I’m sure that some valuable archaeological finds may be made at the same place. I know for a fact a certain territory not far from Molio Ovasse near the Mongo ma Etindeh where I picked up a small piece of an old glazed clay-pot, which I consider to be a testimony that this country once has been inhabited by people standing on a very high degree of culture.1 No doubt the old Ihleh must by

72

KNUT KNUTSON

such a high organisation in religious terms have been a people which have received their culture from perhaps the Phoenician people.2 The old Ihleh culture is at present not to be noticed in Cameroons any more. The only way to get light on the mystery of the old times is to make careful researches by digging the ground by: Oron Illoanni, Fernando Po and the Cameroons and see if any remains of the old sun and sea Gods are to be discovered. I don’t doubt that, as Attokkoro told me, the Onitsha and Ihleh-people have stolen some of the old stone or clay Gods, but there is a possibility that the many different priests of the old temple towns had been in possession of a copy of the stone Gods so that there may still be a view of getting a discovery of archaeological items and this perhaps might clear up the history of the oldest holy towns on the West Coast of Africa.

The first Bantu-invasion The exact time when the same happened is not possible to tell. It can differ by several centuries, but the Barombi-people still living on the north side of the Cameroon Mountains said that they had settled there for a time of 40 – 50 generations. That will be about 1200–1500 years. King Mussakka told me that Barombi were the first of the Bantu-tribe to settle here and they had only at the beginning some little to do with the Ihleh, from which people they were instructed in the clay work and to build canoes, as before mentioned. After some generations the Bobean and Batekka-people came and went over the Barombi-creek (see the old chart) at Mesambi over to the Cameroon Mountains and settled themselves at several places on the mountains where, on the north side still, a town is called Bobea. At the south side of the mountains near Bota there is also a town called Bobea ba Monia [? =Wovea]. Near Bea [Buea?] is a town Boba [? =Wova]. These names show that still the Boobean-name of their former towns has not been forgotten by the present inhabitants, the Bakweri and Bomboko. Batei or Batekkas settled on the northwest side of the Cameroon Mountains, where they founded a larger town by name Batoki and afterward migrated to Fernando Po. Several villages on the north of Bibundi are called Batekka. The most north is Batekka ba Oron, which name these places still have and where the, now soon to be extinct, Colle tribe lives. Of the Boobees a pure remainder should have been living in the beginning of the 19th century on the island Bobea ba Monia, but now this people is very much mingled up with the Bakweri and some few remaining of the Amboses and Isubu. I can practically say, that there are very few drops of Boobean blood at present in the people, now living on Bobea ba Monia.3 The Boobees [Bubi] were known (according to what the Bakweri King Njeka told me) to be a wandering people and very clever in hunting with spears and in poisoning. In the dry season, the Boobees used to drive their goats for feeding up the mountains where the grassy plains were lower down than now. In the rainy season they went down to their towns, carrying with them smoked beef [=meat] of antelopes and honey. The Batekkas were skilful fishermen and divers after oysters with pearls. They were in relation with Boobees and joined them to defend them and their own country against the 2nd Bantu-invasion.

THE ANCIENT RACES

73

The Explanation given by King Njeka of Binga [M’Binga=Bwenga] of the Moco and Biaffran invasion – which probably took place in the 13th century In 1884–1885 I was staying at Binga (for hunting and buying India-rubber) with the aforenamed king. He was the best expert of the history and wanderings of the different tribes of the Cameroon Mountains, and was my special friend and had great pleasure in talking about the ‘old times and old fashions’. He was the living historical lexicon of the Cameroon Territory and he felt very much interest that I was listening to his tales with so great pleasure. I made my notes over what he had to tell me. Now I will let the King tell the story about the Moco and Biafframanni invasion and how the Boobies and Batei or Batekkas were conquered and driven away. ‘There was once,’ the king said, an old powerful king, who lived far in the interior to the south side by a big river, which was so broad that only by clear weather could you see over to the other shore. The said king had two sons by name Baffo and Moco. Both the sons were very successful in all that they attempted and got their own large towns not far from the boundaries of their father. So, their father was afraid that their power should be dangerous for his own. One day he called his sons to his castle and told them that he had lately had a dream that both his sons should once be forefathers to the largest and most famous tribe of the whole of Africa. But now they must promise him to fulfil his dream and at once begin [?] the wandering to the north. They should walk after a certain star in the heaven and when they arrived at a very high mountain they should find behind that place a river over which the star would seem to be standing still. Here was the very place where they had to settle forever. So the old king gave the oldest son Baffo a shield on which was fixed a splendidly made sword, which was carried at the head of the wandering people and gave him also instruction to take his road more inside the country. The shield with the sword on, he must not forget to always carry at the head front, so that if his descendants should once meet his brother Moco’s people, they must know the blood-relationship. Further he instructed him about the mark of the shield of his brother Moco. He also called his son Moco and told him to begin his wandering, but he should keep more to the north-west and near the big sea and he should carry a shield on which was fixed a piece of iron made in the shape of a roach fish. He had also to follow the star and wander further on the mountains and the mark of the shield of his brother Baffo. So they began their wandering and conquered all other people they met on their way. Generation after generation died during the long wandering. It was said 30 generations had gone to their forefathers when the Moco people arrived at the mountain of the Cameroons and there the descendants of the Baffo and Moco met, recognized each other by the marks of the shields. They were now so glad and happy to have met again and great festivities were held both day and night. The man who had to keep watch on the star forgot to do so and missed it, and the road was now difficult to find. It was decided in a palaver that the Moco tribe should try to discover the star up at the mountains, and Baffo’s people, who now also were called the Biafframanni, should try to find the star on the east side of the Cameroon Mountains. So they separated, and Moco passed Mungo at a place called Mokonje [Mukonje]. But a part of the Moco-tribe marched with the Biafframanni further up and passed the Mungo by Elikki. The part of the Moco-tribe, which had to march on the mountain, was wandering through dark forests and over high hills, where they met the most desperate resistance from the side of the Boobees and also Batekka people. The Boobees were fighting day and night, poisoning the wells and hiding them[selves] on the high mountains, but the Moco were too powerful. The Boobees fled over to Fernando Po with the exception of some people who stayed at the point called Bobea [Wovea Island?] where

74

KNUT KNUTSON

they made a great resistance. At last the Moco had nearly conquered them but, the same morning the Moco people had fixed to make an assault upon the Bobean rocky peninsula, there was an eruption in the very rock which divided the same in such a way that the Boobees were left on an island and many Moco people lost their lives in the sea. The Moco people seeing in the eruption a sign that their God didn’t like their wandering any further on the Cameroons, decided to return over [the] Mungo to catch the other part of their people, which together with the Biafframani they had left behind some years ago.

The head town of the Moco on the mountains was Mokunda and another place was the town of Mokundange, situated by the sea between Bota and Batoki, which name the Bakweri took up and these names are still in use and have been so probably since when the last-named tribe took the mountain in possession. According to Spanish and Portuguese literary works the Boobees should have invaded Fernando Po about 8–9 generations before the Portuguese came to Fernando Po in the year 1471. It must have been during the 13th century. There is no doubt that this relation of the Portuguese and Spaniards is trustworthy, as the Bakweri people told us that their forefathers lived for 18 generations on the Cameroon Mountains. The tradition was that before the same arrived at the Mountains this territory had been waste land for a time of 5 generations. If we say that 18 generations would be 540 years and 5 generations 150 we have 690 years. If this number of years be deducted from 1885, we come to the beginning of the 13th century. The King of Bibundi told us that according to the tradition, when the Moco-tribe tried to pass the Oonge river most of them were drowned by the heavy current in this river. The Moco, according to what King Njeka told me, should have been very skilful in making iron and had a good coin in the shape of a roachfish, which was known even by the old authors as per Dr. O. Dapper’s work who also states that in 1650 the people settled at Itoki by Masakke river. I saw a coin of iron once. It was in the shape of a roachfish with a tail in which was stamped 3 holes. From these iron coins the Biafframanni used to manufacture their famous swords. The iron was better than European manufacture. From Cameroon Mountain over the Upper Meme and Massakke-rivers the Moco-tribe went to the lower part of the river Massakke and erected there at the end of 15th century a slave market, which place is still called by the natives Moco and is a marketplace. It took the Moco-tribe about 400–450 years to wander from Mungo to Moco and now they have, during 250 years, been wandering from the last-mentioned place to the Upper Cross river, which journey has taken them about 250 years. I would estimate the length of the performed distance to be altogether 300 kilometres and if we reckon 700 years the Moco tribe has only made yearly about 450 yds. From Moco-market at Masakke to [the] Cross-river-falls it is a distance of 100 kilometres and this route the Moco people have made during 250 years, which makes about 400 meters yearly. Where the Moco came from is very difficult to judge, but I should believe from the Congo river or Sannaga side. However this people must have been a very powerful tribe and this was the first Bantu tribe which was strong enough to push the old Ihleh tribe from the Masakke river. Afterwards they seem to have had their own large slave market and the Moco slaves were shipped from Rio del Rey by the Colle and Amboas-people. The Mocos were in great friendship with the Biafframanni with whom they worked

THE ANCIENT RACES

75

together and did the favour of keeping their boundaries to the north free from attacks of the Ihleh people. During my stay at Rio del Rey I met several of this tribe who had the teeth filed sharp.

The Biaffra tribe One of the largest kingdoms of the whole of Guinea in the 17:th century was the Biaffra, ‘The head kingdom for all these countries’ as Dr. Dapper [1668], Barbot [1732] and Bosman say in their literary works, when mentioning Cameroon and Old Calabar countries. There is no doubt that these words were true, and it is [questionable whether] there has been in the whole of Africa a so-well armed and organised Kingdom as the Old Biaffra from which the Bay of Biaffra has received its name. The report about Biaffra I have had from Attokkoro, King of Oron, and especially from the King Mussakka of Kumba Lyongo and from some Meme-people. This kingdom was the most interesting of all the powers on the coast during the 14–18th centuries. I have already shown how this tribe met with the brother-tribe, Moco, and how they were wandering towards the north. The Biaffra tribe however was a much bigger tribe, being Africa’s most skilful blacksmiths and had the best arms. King Mussakka of Kumba Lyongo told me that he and the Kings of Baiji and Bavo were descendants on the female line from the Biafframanni, but that the right descendants were the still existing large tribe which was settled by the upper Mongo river and Nkassi Mountains by name Bafaramé. I visited these people in 1886 and found them to be very good, with a strong feeling and love for their freedom. When the Biafframanni in the 13th century settled on the upper Meme and Mungo, they erected a head town on the spot where the large place Ekumba Lyongo now is situated. They began to conquer all other tribes and made them contributory to [=subject of, paying tribute to] the King of Biaffra, they conquered the old kingdom of Beldera, which had a good cavalry and they also made this big rich king contributary to the kingdom of Biaffra. They had at last a kingdom stretching from the N’dian river in the North, to the Binnue [Benue] and Tzad [Chad] lake in the North East, and to Sannaga on the Congo river in the South. In the West the boundary was Barombi creek which joined the lower Mungo river with the lower Meme river. Cameroon-Mountains was at that time an island called Ihlehao. It must have been a marvellous system of organisation to keep the whole of this large territory under a king who had his headquarters in the west corner of the Kingdom. The trade in the 13–14th centuries went over to the Nile. It was slaves and ivory which, from Biaffra and their inside stations, were exported to the Nile and down to Egypt. In the 16th century the Portuguese vessels brought cargo in the Rio del Rey River and opened the slave and ivory trade. From that time the wealth of the Biafframanni was increased very much. The difficulty was to keep a kingdom so long and narrow free from invaders. The slaves and Ivory were brought from Binue M’Beam and Sannaga rivers to the Biaffra where at that time the head shipping port was Rio del Rey. The trade was of a great importance and soon the Dutch and English stations were competing with the Portuguese at Rio del Rey, but the Portuguese vessels

76

KNUT KNUTSON

were more well known amongst the natives than any others. The great town of Biaffra was said to have been populated by at least 100,000 inhabitants – King Mussakka told me it was 30 times so big as Kumba Lyongo – and had a very large castle made of bricks and the portals of artistically cut ivory. Outside the large town there was a certain blacksmith’s town, where swords and spears were manufactured only for the King’s army. Thousands of blacksmiths were busy in making the arms. Very nicely made swords were brought in the market by the Ambos – and Colle people – as stated by Dapper, but they were of Biaffran manufacture. The whole trade was in the hands of the king, who used to have some old slaves, who were keeping the account and controlling the governors of the interior districts. The Amboses and Colle people received a certain fee for each slave and ivory shipped, but the white traders were allowed to trade direct with the Biaffran and Moco people on paying a certain fee to the Amboses and Collebungos, which was called Coomee. King Musssakka of Kumba Lyongo said that his grandfather told him that, when the big Biaffra king left his palace hill, the castle warder had to kill a slave, so that the king might wash his hands and feet in the blood before leaving the court. The Barombi tribe who lived near and amongst the Biafframanni was not troubled by them. They had to deliver a certain quantity of clay pots and some big canoes yearly. There was a very great difficulty in keeping all the soldiers in food and large slavetowns were only occupied for the purpose to procure food for the Army. The Colle people brought fish, and the greatest difficulty was, according to what King Mussakka told me, the scarcity of food. King Mussakka said that, 5–6 generations ago, that would be about 150–180 years, the trade in ivory and the slave trade began to go over a small river by name Bija to the large river Binue [Benue] and down to a place Gontscha [Onitscha?] and further down to Benin and Lagos. The Batom4 people began a fight with the Biafframanni. There was only war and war, year after year, and the trade became less. The Amboses, Dualla and Colle people were trading over the Mungo, and Malimba at Cameroons [Estuary], Odobob [Ododob], Issangille [Isangele], Akwa [Douala?]. Egbo [Igbo?] began to trade direct on the Old Calabar and Rio del Rey. The time of wealth and trade was slacking for the old kingdom of Biaffra. So time came, when King Mussakka’s grandfather’s father was a boy, about 1760–1770, [which was] a very bad time for the old head town of Biaffra. The river Meme was overflowing its banks and all the farms stood for several months under water and a fearful time of famine came over the poor inhabitants in the large town of Biaffra. Necessity knows no law, and the consequence was a civil war amongst the hungry people. The slaves made mutiny, the Bakundu and Balundu began to fight. Soon all the inhabitants fled from the old town, where now the pestilential disease began to lay the town waste. And the fate of old Biaffra, the most powerful and well-organized kingdom on the west coast, was to be swept away after having been one of the greatest places on the West Coast of Africa. There is no doubt that the old Biafframanni were the most skilful blacksmiths in the world during a certain time. From where they learned it and how they got their iron I don’t know, but King Mussakka told me, that not far from the Manenguba the Biafframanni used to buy the iron, and in short lengths ready.5 In the last years they bought it from the European traders.

THE ANCIENT RACES

77

I have now shown that the old Biafframanni and the present Bafarame are the same people and also clearly laid before you the causes of the ruin of this old kingdom. At the town Meme, which was situated on the south bank of the river of the same name (the Meme town is now destroyed) I had once the pleasure of seeing an old Biaffran sword, manufactured in a very artistic way and with a handle of gold, ebony and ivory. One of the finest things I ever saw. Although I offered the old poor King of Meme a very high price, he declined my offer, saying, that although he was poor and consequently liked money very much, he would never sell the sword, which was a witness of what once in the past time the old Biafframanni blacksmiths had been able to do. He took a bad sample of a German cutlass and asked me to notice the difference. ‘He showed me’, he said, the same, ‘not for the purpose of selling it, but while he feared that I should leave him with the impression that the black race was not able to do anything besides knocking the palm-nuts, which is a work for children.’ When I entered the King’s house (which was near falling down) the King was busy knocking palm kernels. There was a tradition that when the Biafframanni came to Meme river they drove some Batekka-people away from the hills not far of the Oonge river by a place called Kooke. King Mussakka told me a tale about a Batekka prince, who was made prisoner by the King of Biaffra. The first day he was tied up and brought to the marketplace and shown to all the people of the town, who had to spit in his face when passing him. The next day he was put in a small house together with some tigers belonging to the king, but very strange the tigers didn’t touch him. [Probably the animals were leopards, sometimes called tigers in pidgin.] On the contrary they went up to him, lying peacefully down by his feet. The 3rd day the king had the prince tied by his feet and hand and put him at the road, where the elephants generally walked down to Meme river for drinking. But when the head of the elephant herd noticed the Batekka prince lying tied on the road, he moved him carefully with the trunk to the side of the road. So the king decided to kill the prince the next day, but in the night a daughter of the king who had fallen in love with the prince, helped him out and ran away with him and was married to him. This couple founded the large Batom tribe which 500 years afterwards helped to crush the Kingdom of Biaffra.

King Mussakka assured me that the still-living Bafaramani were the right descendants of the Biaffra people and that Ekumbi, Baiji and Bavo were also related. Further he told me that there are very few now living who took any interest in the old Biaffra. ‘Maula, banga and manjonge’ translated ‘Palm-oil, palmkernels and rubber’ [Bak.: manja, mbiya and manjongo], ‘is of much more importance and the olden times will soon be forgotten and we also, but never mind’, the humoristic and intelligent man said, ‘each period of time gets its own fashion. Men will be born and men die as long as the world keeps together.’

Editor’s Notes 1. As no analysis of the clay and glaze of this sherd is available, as far as I know, whether it was made locally or imported cannot be known. The Cameroon coast had had links with merchant traders from Europe and elsewhere for centuries and this could be the origin of this ‘find’. See the work on recent Bakweri pottery by Isaac Embola.

78

KNUT KNUTSON

2. Pure speculation, possibly influenced by the would-be thinking of Knutson’s time. The Phoenicians have been somewhat romanticized in Europe. Oron is not far from Calabar, and Attokkoro knew many of the traders, and may even have visited the Calabar area. As we know from the Swedes’ trip inland these traders were very sophisticated (see Waldau’s epitome here) and may have picked up stories, even garbled ones. The writings of Frobenius on Nigeria might have influenced Knutson, after his return to Sweden. 3. For a brief illustrated account of the Wovea people (Knutson’s Bobea) when living on one of the ‘Pirate Islands’ in the bay off Bota in the 1950s, see Ardener, E.W. 1958, reprinted in Ardener 1996. For a brief account in English of the Bubi (Knutson’s Boobee) on Fernando Po see entry by Ardener, S.G. in Family of Man, 1974. For an ethnography, see Gunter Tessman 1923, Die Bubi auf Fernando Po... and Molino 1989. See also E.W. Ardener 1996, passim. 4. The Batom were said by Conrau to be Bafo (E.W. Chilver); the identity was recently confirmed in an interesting newsletter, Mbum M’Bafaw, published in 1999. 5. For a study of traditional iron smelting on the grasslands of Cameroon see e.g. Ian Fowler’s doctoral thesis (UCL, 1989): ‘Babungo: A Study of Iron Production…’.

CHAPTER 7

Adventures on Cameroon Mountains and in Biaffran Swamps

When in 1885 on our travel to the interior Mr. Waldau and I had passed a river called Meme, we were both of the opinion that the same emptied into the estuary of the river1 named Rio del Rey. It was of great importance to us to get to know the direction of the river and also the country lying north of the same with boundaries to the Old Calabar. The trade at Bibundi was especially a trade in India-rubber but we knew that in the Balundu district a big trade was carried on with palm-oil and palm-kernels. It was therefore decided that we should open up this trade with Balundu soonest possible. I had to try to find the mouth of the Meme river, and go up the same and buy some land and also start factories by the Balundu and Ekumbi people if they were willing to trade with us. First I went up to Balundu ba Boa lying at a creek where it was said the Colle people formerly had lived, but afterwards were driven away from, by the Balundu tribe. The 28th of February 1887 I started for Battekka ba Oinda. The following day the old king of that place went with me as an interpreter to Balundu Ba Boa, and we were received by the king and people in the most friendly way. Cola nuts were eaten by the king and chiefs of the town and also by me. This ceremony is a certain sign and guarantee of friendship and peace. Then we made an agreement and rules for the coming trade. The same day the king’s court was to hold a meeting about some witchcraft palaver and several hundred men, armed with swords and guns, came to the king’s house. Some of my men begged me that I should return, being very afraid of the people. I told the king that I preferred to get another appointment with him, because I did not wish to be disturbed by the noise, and he at once drove the people out and went to another place to settle the palaver. The king’s house was built in the same style as the old Romans and Greeks used to build, in a rectangular way. Behind the big front house, were three small houses which together formed a closed court. In the small houses on the sides, which also included sleeping rooms for the king’s guests, were the rooms for the king’s many wives. The inside walls of the front house were covered with paintings, which exposed sceneries from nature, tigers, and alligators.

80

KNUT KNUTSON

When we went down from the town to the beach the king of Oinda, who was very much interested in ancient history and geography of the country, showed me how high the sea had been going up a couple of hundred years ago. His tribe had only lived about a century at Batekka ba Oinda. The old Colle people lived once about two kilometres from Balundu ba Boa beach. He showed me a limit of trees, which he said was the place to which the sea reached and where the towns had been situated some hundred years ago. The first who heard about the Balundu people and have spoken about them was Captain Allen2 to whom it was related when visiting Cameroons in 1839 that behind the Cameroon-mountains to the North side lived a tribe by that name. I was obliged to return to Bibundi being alone at that time having closed my factory there. However I soon got a clerk and decided that I, together with Mr. E. Bovallius, should make an expedition to discover the mouth and by canoe pass up the Meme to Bonge and Bajii [otherwise Knutson’s Baije] where we had passed this river 1885. The old king of Batekka ba Oinda (Dualla was the name he called himself) was invited to visit me at Bibundi the next week to talk over some palaver about the inside country and about the olden times, which was his speciality. So one day my friend, the aforenamed old king, arrived and stayed with me, instead of one day, three days and was treated in the most friendly manner. He said, when we parted, that he had never had so good food and such a jolly time since he was a boy. Our meeting was to prepare my discovery expedition to the Meme river and there were very long discussions, how we should be able to make this so that the king afterwards should not be troubled by the Old Calabar and Odobob people. The Calabar people had lately been to the old king and threatened him because he had carried me up to the mentioned Balundu ba Boa, but he told them that he did not dare to refuse me. He was a very clever political agent, so it was made up according to the following scheme how we should make our journey. When I came to his town I would begin to talk about the palaver that he should show me the Meme river, and then he would refuse to do so, but I would threaten him with the small gun (revolver) and behave very desperately and force him to follow, otherwise I would have to burn the town. Some Calabar and Akva Jaffe people would come to him to buy fish, and then they would be convinced that he, by force, was obliged to follow me up the Meme. He had during the last years had to suffer very much from the side of the Old Calabar and Akva people because some of his people had not been able to pay their debt.

Figure 8: KVH Factories (left: Bibundi, right: Itoki ) © The National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Per Dusén.

ADVENTURES ON CAMEROON MOUNTAINS AND IN BIAFFRAN SWAMPS

81

The king explained to me how the word Dualla had originated. The Banokko king Berri Berri, had a son Dumbe who had settled down by the Upper Cameroon river, and his people were called Dumbe ba Mallaus Bungos. This name was too long so they took the first Du and the last luas and thus formed Duallua, and they still say Dualluas.3 The first Banokko king should have been married with a princess who was the daughter of a king living up Edea river, by name Dumbe, where this people according to his statement should still be living. This old king Dualla told me that since about fifty years ago there had not been any interference between his people and the Banokko, but as a very small boy he was with his uncle to Dualla and went over Kwa Kwa to the Edea river. He told me that they used to stay at the following places: The first night they slept at Bibundi, the next night at Isubu, and late the next evening they arrived at Dualla. At Dualla they used to stay a few days, and they were like brothers, the king said. From Dualla they started through the creek Kwa Kwa to Bungo ba Malimba where they used to meet some Banokko people, this was the fourth day. They then started for a river called Moandja (small Batanga) and at a place called Alanjuma ba Beundi, this was the fifth travelling day, and the last day they arrived at Lowe, which was the principal town of the Banokko people. They used to stay here six or eight days to have their religious mysteries surveyed and to take notice about new rates and laws. The Banokko people were formerly the most skilful men in all laws and regulations and used as arbitrators and mediators to settle disputes.

He said that he had made this journey twice and once they returned from Bungo by Malimba to Lekao (Fernando Po) and stayed at a place named Mao where his father bought some medicine from the people, which formerly a very, very long time ago, had been living at Batekka-coast and were called Batta. From this place they started to Banapa from where they crossed to Jonye at Cameroon mountains. The journey used to last about one month and took place in December, every fifth year, during which month the weather was pleasant and the sea calm. There used to be three or four big canoes, about thirty men in each, like the Cameroon canoes in present use. The head canoe where the king had his place was very nicely painted red, white and blue and special men beat big drums when they passed a town, announcing that the mighty king of Batekka ba Oinda was on his way to visit his old friends and relatives at Isubu, Dualla and Banokko. He sent his best wishes to the king and inhabitants of each town that he passed, and in turn the king of each town answered, wishing him a pleasant journey and hoped that he would find his relatives in good health and conditions. There were certain rules about these trips. The guests should not stay more than eight days in Banokko and four to six days in Dualla and in the other places only one or two days. The guests received food and lodging so there were no expenses at all. The old king said that these were very amusing trips. Then the Banokko, Malimba and Dualla people used to repay the visits. The cause of these visits coming to an end, the king said, was probably the men-of-war who used sometimes to hunt the canoes in the belief that the same were loaded with slaves, who were brought for sale. The steamers used afterwards to call at Old Calabar and Cameroon and the trade began to occupy the people more so the old feeling of

82

KNUT KNUTSON

relationship soon vanished. And now, the very intelligent king said, it is only in the memory of a few old men who will carry it with them in their graves. I mention these facts to show that the old natives knew the Coast very well and that the white culture has stopped their former travelling pleasure and that the band of relationship which once joined the natives, even at very great distances, is now broken. I will now leave these interesting voyages, which also have been common here amongst the old West European cultured people but now is only, as the old king said, a memory. The 8th of May 1887 I started together with Mr. E. Bovallius, five Krumen, two Sanjimen, one Victoria man by name, N’Golle and Malombi, armed to the teeth. Every man had his gun and we carried an abundance of cartridges. I had with me several old soldier coats and high hats and much Kings’ cloth, tobacco, beads, powder, other cloth and guns with which, if possible, to buy some ground for a factory. When we arrived at Batakka ba Oinda the old king seemed to be very surprised and [acted as] though he was as he said very afraid of the matter. He showed me two old Calabar men whom I did not take any notice of. We began to speak the palaver and I was very loud and threatened to take the king as prisoner and burn the town if he would not show me the road. The old king wept, cried, and played so well that no actor could have done better, all to show the two Calabar men the very difficult position. Besides he gave the people a wink that they could not be sure of the bad Massa who was in relationship with the Germans who liked to fire guns. In the evening they fled to Fiari towns very much frightened. But in the small private house of the king, he and I had a very amusing talk about the matter and as the best of friends we had our dinner, laughing very much over how well the king had performed his part, which Mr. Bovallius and I could not give enough high praise. The following day early in the morning we started up the big bay called N’dame and King Dualla told me that when we had pulled one hour we would reach Mongosi and an hour later we would arrive at the mouth of the Meme. It was exactly as he had told me but the head entrance of the river I should have judged to be the first named, which the same once upon a time had been. But now the entrance of the Meme was only about six or eight meters wide, but fairly deep – up to five or six meters. Having pulled up the rivers for two hours we arrived at the limit of the Mangrove territory, but at the same place the river had a width of at least sixty meters and the depth of the same was about four or five meters. Here we met the raphia palm and dracena territory4 which I consider to have been one half an Eng. mile deep. Afterwards, we met the oil-palms and large cotton and redwood trees, and about four Eng. miles further up we reached a beach by name Kumbe. On our way up the river we passed two dead bodies of men who had been tied, hands and feet with ropes. The old king thought them to be slaves, who probably had been drowned when Bavo people had tried to pass the river up at Düben Falls. We went from Kumbe beach up to the town where we were very well received by the kings and chiefs, who sold the bush territory and the beach to us for £10 Sterling. Treaties were made between us and the kings, and the people, and a big goat was killed. The town had about 1200 inhabitants and the same were occupied by cooking and refining palm-oil.

ADVENTURES ON CAMEROON MOUNTAINS AND IN BIAFFRAN SWAMPS

83

The next day we started for the old town Meme and met twelve big Calabar canoes with many armed men, and Bovallius, our black men and I were sitting in position to fire if we should be attacked. But the Old Calabar men were pulling for their lives. The Old King Dualla was lying on the bottom of the boat covered with some old bags and shaking in every limb. We reached afterward the town Meme. Although we could very easily have reached the Bonge and Kumbe Lyongo we stopped during the night and dashed the king with very good stuff, so that he should not say that because he was a poor king we wouldn’t stay with him. Early the next morning we started for Bonge, where the king refused to sell the ground to us having heard that the Germans and Swedes were brothers, and the first named were known to like to kill people as had been the case when the Germans burned Isubu and drove the old king Moneba or Monney away. The Balong and Bakundu people had told them about that palaver and for that reason they would at present not sell their land to us. I told my people that we should pull away at once, but the king wished to kill a fowl for us. The old king of Batekka (Dualla), who was dressed up in a very fine old military uniform, chapeau-claque and also a fine sword, king cloth and a white nice singlet, told the king that the towns Kumbe and Meme each killed a goat, and the Mokalla [White men] eat, of course, fowls, but I and the other black men wouldn’t be satisfied with less than a goat. However I wouldn’t lose the time of killing a goat, cooking it and eating it, so the time had been spent with only a lot of nonsense talk. We started in the evening and were received by King Mussakka5 at Ekumba Lyongo6 beach. It was nearly dark when we arrived and the king had engaged about sixty slaves as torchbearers, and in a light procession we arrived to the large town of Ekumba Lyongo. Three torchbearers went before and after, and in the middle came the king escorting me on his right and Mr. Bovallius on his left. After us went three torchbearers and then the chiefs according to rank. When we arrived the king invited us to his house, where he held a speech which was the best I have ever heard. Some of his utterances were indeed true, namely that, ‘white and black men may be of different colour and have different views, but one principle they must have in common and that is to do right and to keep a promise and stick to your word, that,’ he said, ‘had always been his first commandment and he hoped that we should always try and follow the same rule, to the mutual benefit of a friendship, which only death could be able to break.’ He dashed us with a big goat with the promise of killing a cow the next morning. When we had eaten some splendid palmoil chop, prepared by the queen, it was rather late so we turned to our sleeping rooms. Early in the morning the king sent us a slave boy with water for washing, and another who brought some bamboo-pins to pull out the jiggers from our toes.7 But I am glad to state that we had none. The King Mussakka told us that all the chiefs and people from Ekumba ba Bonschi8 and N’denne would arrive to officially pay their respects to me and hold a meeting in regard to the rules and conditions on which the trade should be carried on. A bullock was killed to celebrate the occasion and we dressed in the best cloth we had. The old Batekka king appeared as before described, and Mussakka in coat, hat and umbrella, which had been dashed him by me, as shown on the photo (Figure 9).

84

KNUT KNUTSON

Figure 9: King Mussakka of Ekumba Liongo © The National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Per Dusén.

We went out after having had a breakfast of chicken and pfopho [commonly now spelled fufu or foofoo] which is strongly peppered sweet plantains crushed, which tastes very good. We walked to the official meeting place where King Mussakka placed me on his right side and Mr. Bovallius on the left and then there was a little dispute about who should be placed on my right side. King Mussakka’s nephew should have had that place but I proposed to place the king of Batekka Oinda there, who was very proud of it. Mussakka’s nephew took place on the right side of Mr. Bovallius. We sat on common chairs the seats of which were made of antelope hide. On the other side were chairs for both kings and crown princes of Ekumba ba Bonschi and N’denne. About two to three thousand men arrived, but no slaves were allowed to be present at this meeting, with the exception of a few who had bought themselves free. Many speeches were held of which King Mussakka’s was the best and also the longest. He explained how happy he was to have found that his town at last had become honoured with a visit from white men and whom he thought would build houses and stay with him and trade for ever. He mentioned that here had formerly been a very big slave trade and that the old Biafra had been here, but now it was a new time. Every man could through his hands’ work increase his wealth. The industrious man would push forward and the idle would come behind. He wished to present me all the bush which was not nor had been

ADVENTURES ON CAMEROON MOUNTAINS AND IN BIAFFRAN SWAMPS

85

cultivated since fifty years ago, he knew that I would buy it for £20. He proposed that the three Ekumbi towns should build up the houses by the beach, before the dry season, for the price of 10 opos or £5. Then we went down to the beach where during the night four of the king’s slaves with loaded guns had kept watch over our boat to prevent Calabar people from stealing it. It was decided where the factory should be placed, and as the water at present was very high, I made the remarks, that if our merchandise should be spoiled by the water when the riverbanks overflowed, the king had to pay the damages. I told him, better to put up the factory further up on the hill, but he said that he would be responsible for any goods damaged thus. He was the man who was in the position to pay for it and shook my hand as a confirmation of his word. We returned to the town where a big dinner was held and after that the official breaking up ceremony of the meeting took place. The kings of Ekumba ba Bonschi and N’denne held some speeches, wherein they gave the clever and wise king Mussakka authority to discuss terms and conclude the bargain about the trade and that the houses should be built up in the course of six to eight months. They thanked Mussakka for his great hospitality. Then the official leave-taking went on in the following manner. Both kings were by Mussakka’s head slave, who stood behind him, called to step forward and Mussakka told me to catch both their hands and shake them as we white men used to do and give them a hat and a singlet each. I did so and Mr. Bovallius and the King Mussakka and King Dualla of Oinda did the same. After the kings came the chiefs, they only got a singlet each and only one hand was shook. At last the king’s slave called all the men who Mussakka proposed, (the oldest among them, about two hundred). When they passed us we made only a gesture with the right hand and gave them a friendly nod, which was returned. When the ceremony was over we were very tired. Both kings were very happy about the ceremonies, which would soon be known over the whole country. The king took me with him to visit his mother’s old aunt whom he judged to be very old, about ninety or one hundred years. She was very interested of hearing the king describe the ceremony and the farewell of the people of Bonschi and N’denne. The king told me that he always went to this old aunt when he had to decide some important matter. He said that she was very clear-headed and could see and look into the matter much clearer than he could and was very much respected by all. He had also spoken to her that a white man should come to the beach, and she had said that according to news I had been trading rubber, she had never heard anything but good about the ‘mokala Swedesi’, the white Swedes, but the white Germans she advised him strongly not to have anything to do with. It is very curious how this feeling was common among the natives everywhere. King Mussakka expected to see me again in the course of two weeks, so we departed after some ceremonies. Mr. Waldau visited him after two weeks. He walked by land from Illoanni after having bought Illoanni, Bonjarri Bungo and Likumi and passed along the Meme to Ekumba Lyongo where kings and deputations from the people of Baiji and Kookee and Bonge came down to meet him. Then he went to Bonge and bought that town for £10.

86

KNUT KNUTSON

Figure 10: Part of Mbonge factory overlooking the Meme River. © The National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Per Dusén, 1894.

Figure 11: Plan of the KVH factory at Lobe, 1895 (Pouncette 1898)

ADVENTURES ON CAMEROON MOUNTAINS AND IN BIAFFRAN SWAMPS

87

The 12th of September I visited for the first time the very old town Illoanni where I found so many interesting paintings on the walls and where the houses lying on the inside court had broad verandas by which the roof was kept up with nicely carved peristyles. The beach of Illoanni was about 31/2 Eng. miles distance from the town. This old town should in archaeological respects be carefully researched, as I have shown in the chapter about the Ancient Races. We were now very busy erecting factories at Bonge and Ekumba Lyongo and the houses were ready and the trade began the 5th of February 1888 with Mr. G. Linnell, as agent on that place. In Bonge we had Mr. E. Bovallius who opened that factory the 10th of March 1888. They were both very skilful men and understood how they should treat the natives and the trade was developing at a high scale. We had bought both banks of the river Meme up to Düben Falls and we got title deeds and legal confirmations signed by von Soden that we were the only owners of all these towns. In April 1888 my dear friend Waldau went home and I had the difficult job to clear the trade at Bibundi, send cargo to the factories in Ekumba Lyongo and Bonge [Mbonge] and also the transport of produce down to Batekka ba Oinda where I stored the same and had a black man to watch and control. In the first days of June the waters of the Meme began to rise and all the salt, tobacco and cloth in Ekumba Lyongo Factory was spoiled and the current was so strong that it was a great risk for the agent to stay there. He had built a strong fence for the ninety casks of palm-oil representing a value of £1500 and he had to leave the house and wrote me a letter to come up the river as soon as possible. He was obliged to go to Bonge because he was not safe in the house where the water stood nine feet high and the canoe was tied at the upper veranda post. Mr. Linnell told me that the last night he slept in the house he thought that the current should wash the house away, thus anything but a pleasant situation. I went up the river with eight Krumen and provision for a week. In an open surfboat and by a heavy side gale we started from Bibundi and came after a very quickly-made trip to the mouth of the Meme river, but here the difficulties began. The current and rain were fearful. My true poor Krumen were working day and night and we were often driven back by the current. During the nights we anchored behind some very high cotton trees. The whole country was filled with water and the rain poured down. For seventy-two hours we had to remain in the boats and I shall never forget the day we arrived at Bonge, tired and feverish. We all took a hot bath and drank some tea and went to bed and slept for eighteen hours. When we awoke we were very much refreshed and enjoyed our breakfast. The water had now receded about five feet and continued to do so about two or three feet every day until normal. Mr. Linnell and I went up to the factory at Ekumba Lyongo which had been greatly damaged. However no casks of palm-oil had floated away. The kernels and rubber were still wet but were soon dried in the sun. But the merchandise was ruined, the salt bags were empty, the leaf tobacco was spoiled and also the cloth, all to a value of about £800. I was very sorry but at the same time glad that the palm-oil and other products were not carried away by the heavy current. We went up to Ekumba Lyongo town to speak the palaver about the spoiled merchandise with my friend Mussakka and I was anxious to learn what the king

88

KNUT KNUTSON

should say and I made up my mind to let the king begin to talk about this matter and thus see if his word about ‘to keep a promise and stick to one’s word’ was honestly meant or only loose speech. When we arrived at Kumba Lyongo we met the king who at once began to talk about the merchandise which he proposed to take over and he had already collected rubber to a value of £200, but thirty days after he would pay all the goods which was proved to have been damaged by water. At the same time he declared, that the water had not been so high since the Biaffaramani were driven away, also that he considered that the Bavo people had bewitched the river by putting powder in the water, so that the river overflowed. That the Bavo people had done this because they did not like the expansive trade carried on at Ekumba Lyongo beach. The king walked with us down to the beach. All the spoiled goods were left to him, and he made a long speech, saying that he was very glad to know that I had not doubted in him as an honest man and after a month I had only to call upon him and I should receive the estimated sum. New houses would be built in the course of thirty days. He hoped that this should be the first and the last time that we should have any differences. A month passed and I went to Bonge, but on the thirtieth day early in the morning a messenger came to Bonge dressed up in King Mussakka’s coat which had been presented to him by me, to show that he was sent by the king and brought a small calebass [calabash] in which was thirty pieces of palm-kernels. He said that each kernel was a day and that the rubber and palm-oil kernels were on the Kumba Lyongo beach and that the king asked me to immediately come over and settle the water palaver. I dressed carefully and brought with me some presents for the king. Mr. Linnell and I were kept busy quite a while counting all the produces and at last all was paid. When everything was settled I held a little speech in the Bomboko language which the king understood very well, telling him that I considered him to be the most honest king as well in Africa as Europe, and that if all were like him there would be no need of any law and no war. He was a wonderful king, and only smiled at my sayings. How different was not this King’s word to the signed documents by the German Governor. They cannot be compared in regard to honour, not in any respect. This king possessed a very high degree of intuitive power, had also a very great knowledge of history, especially of the old Biafra. In religious terms he was very free. He said that it would not go [well if one were] to rule people without having religion and strong punishment for crime. About witchcraft, he said that according to his opinion they must have [it] to prohibit the poisoning of people, which can easily happen and often is done here. However they should like to have their palavers settled at a court of men and not by the witchman who decides over the fate of a man and many times in a wrong way. A witchman was at that time staying in Bakundu and intended to come and settle in Ekumba Lyongo to finish some witchcraft palaver. The missionaries and the Germans had been hunting this man when he was among the Balong people. We did not know that he was the same who had been at the lower Mungo otherwise we would have caught him and sent him to the Cameroons. He began his operations in the Ekumbi country and came to Mr. Linnell and began to trouble him. He

ADVENTURES ON CAMEROON MOUNTAINS AND IN BIAFFRAN SWAMPS

89

made a law that the people should not bring any rubber to our factory but return to the trade with the Old Calabar. King Mussakka met me at Bonge and he told me that the kings of the Ekumbi towns were under his influence and that he, although he could not accuse him for witchcraft, did not want to have any row with this witchman, but advised me to bind and flog this horrid man. King Mussakka should be present when he was punished and he should ask me not to punish him but I should not heed his request and after having had his whipping the witchman’s reputation would be ruined, and he would be forced to leave the country. Mr. Linnell was a young man, only twenty years, who had been shamefully treated by this witchman who called him ‘mokote’ – ‘boy’. He did all that he could to disturb the young man’s trade. So I came up to Ekumba Lyongo and we prepared to punish the witchman who had several hundred lives on his conscience. A messenger was sent to the town to tell King Mussakka that I had arrived with the surfboats and had plenty of goods. When Mussakka passed accidentally the witchman’s house, dressed very well, he was asked by the witchman, to whom he was going and he answered that merchandise had come to the beach. Then the witchman followed him down to look around. I told Samson and my Krumen that when I showed them a native witchman they had to tie him and whip him soundly. Some boys went away and cut some good whips from the bush and then we made ready to receive the witchman at the beach.

Figure 12: Headman Samson and two of his workers © The National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Per Dusén.

90

KNUT KNUTSON

King Mussakka came to me and said ‘good day’, and shook my hands as usual. Then the witchman came and gave me his hand, but I answered him ‘No, I would never touch a witchman’s hand’ and made a sign to Samson, my headman, to bind him and punish him at once. ‘Put him up on a cask and whip him well,’ was the order. On hearing this King Mussakka fell on his knees and crept up to me and asked that I might spare the life of the witchman for his sake and not flog him too much, but whispered very low, ‘I hope he will get a good lashing’. I said ‘he must be punished now and if he stays one day in the Ekumbi towns which have all signed the treaties, prohibiting witchmen from coming there, I shall take away the factory and erect it at Bavo or Baiji’. When the witchman had received his punishment he ran away to the Upper Mungo where he was killed by a black German policeman a few months afterward. It was indeed a good act and it was well to have him out of the way. He had brought so many tears and caused so many deaths among the natives. Among our traders there was a man born at Boando by name Bombe. He was an intelligent and nice looking man, as you will notice by his photo [unidentified], and one of the most clever traders we had, but he had two faults. He liked liquor and women, otherwise he was an honest man, had a very good memory and kept such splendid account that, although he could not read nor write and had to remember about one hundred and fifty different kinds of merchandise, he never made a mistake. He used to say when we squared up our accounts, ‘Well Massa you have your things written in books of account and that’s all right, but my book is my head and I consider it to be good too.’ When he came down from the bush country he used to dress up very fine and always in company with some pretty young girls who came down to buy some beads at the factory. He had the nickname, ‘Moto ma Molon/ga’9 – the man who possesses beauty. Once I remember he had brought one of his many sweethearts to the factory to buy her some silk handkerchiefs, and as they passed the small river Bekongolo the canoe capsized and his sweetheart was nearly drowned but saved by Bombe, who had learned to swim down in Bibundi. In Boando where he was born the men are very afraid of the water. Bombe returned after a few minutes with his sweetheart and bought a new silk handkerchief and this time they passed the river without delay. Sometimes he had a credit of about £100 with us and always paid his debt. He was a very open-handed man and of a very humorous nature. I remember once it had taken a rather long time before Bombe came down [and] delivered his rubber so I thought it wise to go up to Bomboko to learn what had happened to my clerk. I found him at Bokulu and he had a very good deal on. The king in that town was very rich, but as Bombe said, ‘he pass all for beg’. ‘He can be sitting here for my house,’ Bombe said, ‘the day through and watching me only for the purpose of begging a leaf of tobacco and at evening before he goes he says, “Amakende Bombe sekkete mana taco avon” that is, “Now I am leaving you Bombe, should you not give a little tobacco today?”’ It was agreed between Bombe and me that I should, when the king came, tell him the foolish way of his begging. There were small children, only six or eight years old, who brought rubber to the house where Bombe stayed and brought cloth, beads and tobacco which they gave to their parents. The old rich king used to beg some tobacco of the chil-

ADVENTURES ON CAMEROON MOUNTAINS AND IN BIAFFRAN SWAMPS

91

dren. ‘That fashion’, Bombe said, ‘is not good Massa, you please tell him when he comes here not to repeat it.’ The mean old king came and begged so energetically that I have never seen his equal. He followed me as a shadow or a chamberlain. In the afternoon some children came and brought rubber and the old king began to beg of them as usual. Then I told him that I should draw back my trader from Bokolu. He was disturbed, and also his customers, by the king and it was a great shame of him to force the children to give him, who was a rich man, their little tobacco and beads which they had worked hard for and intended to keep as a gift for their parents which would afford them pleasure. I said, ‘It seemed to me that he was too old to be king and that his whole behaviour was so simple that the town had a great shame in having such a beggar king.’ Many men were present, and his own son came to me in the evening and thanked me very much for my utterance. He said, ‘He begs from my children and my wives and in his boxes are lying many hundred leaves of tobacco, beads and much cloth, etc., the most of which he has begged together. That is a sickness when a man becomes so greedy as my father.’ No doubt we have the same sort of people here in Europe. Another time Bombe’s flirt with a Bosama princess nearly cost my life. One day at Bibundi a man came down from Bomboko telling me that the king and Crown prince of Bosama up the mountains had tied Bombe and sequestrated eight big bags of rubber belonging to me. They accused Bombe of having some flirtation with the Crown princess of Bosama. I went up at once with only a Kruman and my steward who carried a box with cloth and my guns and I had my revolver in the belt. We arrived at Bosama and I went to the king’s house and we began to speak about the flirt palaver and the King and Crown prince were both of the opinion that Bombe had fallen into an error and must be punished. But Bombe, who was set free when I arrived, denied that he was guilty of the fault and consequently not liable to punishment. The Crown prince who was very desperate made a signal with an ivory horn and six men came and placed themselves in a circle around us, with loaded guns and aimed at Bombe and me, but I seized the old king’s left arm and put my revolver to his head saying, ‘If your men shoot me you will be killed at the same time. This is no matter of war, only a common flirt palaver’. The old king cried [‘Olla Mokumba’], put down the guns and I and the men put down the same. Then I made a speech in the Bomboko language saying that we should talk this palaver quietly and not be excited. I should like very much to see the Crown princess, Her Royal Highness, and speak with her about the matter. She was brought and I asked her if Bombe was her sweetheart, but she answered that he only kissed her twice, and that she had told her husband of it and she could not see any harm in that. Kissing is a custom which the people have learned of the white men. To settle the thing I proposed that Bombe should pay 5 Croo for the two kisses. £2-10 each whereof the Crown prince should have 2 Croo = £2, the Crown princess 1 Croo = £1, the king (father of the Crown prince) and I, 1 Croo each for having settled the palaver and judged fairly. The old king approved with great acclamation this, my proposal, and asked me to give him a cheque on the factory which I gave him and also to the Crown prince and the Crown princess. Bombe was free, I got my rubber back and the king of Bosama followed me down to

92

KNUT KNUTSON

Bibundi and gave me carriers for the rubber. The palaver was settled to a mutual benefit for all the parts. Of course Bombe got out of the situation quite fairly. I paid for him 3 Croo to the king and Crown prince which amount I put on trading expenses and took no payment for my settling the palaver. But Bombe had to fulfil the payment to the Crown princess for the two kisses at 10 sh. each, which he did. He said that they were rather dear, but if the Crown princess had spoken the truth he should really have had to pay a couple of 100 pounds. How many times had I not warned this man, who was so very good but had no character? It was a great pity. Many times I asked him to go to the Mission school, but he liked this free trading life. When at Bibundi I used to buy yearly several hundred tons of ebony and we stored the wood in the open air and shipped it monthly by the English steamers to Liverpool. To prevent the people from stealing it I kept a watchman who carried a flint gun loaded with loose powder for the purpose of producing an impression upon the natives that it was a risk to try and steal. Although the watchman, who was a Kruman, was very good and careful it happened that some pieces were stolen. One night I was awakened by the report of a gun and ran out to find the watchman who told me that two men came to steal ebony so he fired a shot and the thieves jumped into the river, and he presumed them to be drowned. One of them cried very loudly when the current carried him out to the seaside. Early the next morning I sent a messenger to the old King Befongo, of whom I have spoken very often, a very nice man, and told him about the palaver, and he promised to take up the matter at once and try to find out if some of the people of his town had been lost during the night. A few hours later the king came and said that he had very sad news, and that a man from Bomana had drowned that night while trying, together with a Bibundi man, to steal ebony from me. The Bomboko would come down tomorrow, about five or six hundred men to burn the town of Bibundi because the Bibundi man was said to have coaxed the Bomana man into stealing and thus was responsible for his death. The following morning the people from Bomboko came down from the mountains, about six hundred men, bringing guns, and the palaver was spoken. The king asked me to come down and take part in the same, because some men said that my watchman had killed the man. I asked the Bomboko if I had no right to kill a man who in the night tried to steal from me. They answered yes, and that it was quite according to the law. I told them that the watchman did not see the thieves, he only heard them and fired his gun in the air and then the thieves jumped into the river. The Bibundi thief was brought before the court. He was tied carefully and should be sentenced either to be killed or sold as a slave. The father of the thief came to me and asked if I could lend him 10 or 20 Croos and engage the boy to work with my men and help pull the cargoes up the Meme river. He asked this in the presence of many people, I think to show that he had no money. I answered that I would try to do so. The palaver was settled the next day after a lot of talking. The thief tried to declare the Bomana man to have seduced him, but I spoke against this, his foolish talk, saying that he was the man who had misled the drowned man and he should be punished not by life but with a very heavy fine. He was sentenced to pay 20

ADVENTURES ON CAMEROON MOUNTAINS AND IN BIAFFRAN SWAMPS

93

Croos which his father, whom we all thought poor, paid the same evening. I engaged the boy and his father always drew his payment, so that after three years he had finished the payment to his father and then he went to Bibundi and was taken up among the other men. When he returned to the town his father dressed up in his best cloth, took the son by the hand and walked up and down the street telling that his son had returned. A long time had passed since he had seen his son but now the debt was paid through his own labour and to the satisfaction of his masters, and now he recognized him as his good son again whom he was sure never would do such a mistake any more. I found this way of a father’s redress of his son as being very good, but which I think would be difficult to carry through in West Europe. I may add that the son was never allowed to visit his father’s house or the town before he had paid the debt. The father received his salary monthly but he never asked about him. When I told him that his son was working well and to my satisfaction, he said, ‘Well I prefer not to hear of him before he has finished his payment.’ There was at Batoki a young man who was known to be a masterthief and who had once worked for us but he was always stealing so that it was impossible to keep him in our service. He stole a silver spoon from Mr. Waldau and cloth and tobacco from his own countrymen and was punished for it. His name was M’Boe and his nickname ‘M’Boe ba diba endenne,’ that is translated ‘M’Boe the Masterthief’. There was a mulatto who was captain on a small cutter sailing to Bibundi, Victoria and Old Calabar bringing yams from Fernando [Po], which sold or bartered against dried fish. He had very often been at Bibundi and so one evening he anchored outside the bar and the captain came on shore and tried to trade with me and I decided to sell some fish for yams and buy a few cigars, as he had some hand-made ones from Fernando Po. Early in the morning before five o’clock the captain and his mate, also a mulatto, came but instead of, as usual, very nicely dressed, they came quite naked. They explained the cause of their nakedness and asked me if I could sell them a pair of pyjamas and a singlet each, which I did. They had engaged a black man at Victoria as sailor on board the cutter and during the night while they were sleeping that man had stolen all their cloth, in fact all their valuables. However they had put their money under their pillows. They asked me if I could perhaps know the man by description and said that he had called himself ‘Black Jack.’ I recognized the Masterthief M’Boe and I told them that it would be very difficult to find him, who probably already had run up to Bomboko and hidden the stolen goods. The captain who was a very humorous man said laughingly that he had never been in such a queer situation, but his greatest mistake in life was that he believed all men being good and honest like him. But now he would change his opinion. The people of Batekka towns were treated very badly by the Calabar people and there were often complaints made about this matter, but I dared not report the same to the German Governor knowing that in such a case it would only give cause for a fight, which I considered being of no use as it could be settled in an amiable way. My old friend the king of Batekka Bamoso had lately visited me at Bibundi complaining very much about the Calabar and Odobobmen who recently had captured

94

KNUT KNUTSON

two of his son’s wives and carried them to Rio del Rey or Fiari. I promised him by shaking hands with him that next time when passing up to Meme, I should visit him and I had now to receive authority by the Governor von Soden to settle palavers and seize goods liable to duty in the Colony, so he could now be sure of that I shouldn’t allow any one to disturb him or any other of his towns. Then I went to Batekka Bamoso where I received the news that some Calabar men had been there that morning and caught three women in order to settle a debt between them and the Batekkas. I was only two hours too late but I was sure that I should meet some Calabar people on my way and we cruised with a fair breeze up the N’dame. Suddenly one of my Krumen shouted, ‘Massa big Calabar canoe larboard!’ ‘We will steer up to them, put up more sails!’ Soon we reached the large canoe and I asked the people on board the same, if they had been to Bamoso and caught some women, to which question they answered,’No’. I noticed that they carried some cases of gin inside the canoe, which was not allowed, and asked them to deliver the same at once because they had no right to carry gin inside these rivers. But when the owner protested I went up alongside of the canoe and told my Krumen to take the gin cases and put them on board my boat. One of the slaves on board the Calabar canoe quickly cocked his flint gun and aimed at my heart. His forefinger shook on the trigger and he seemed very excited and it was not very pleasant. I told my boys to level their guns on the master and the slave, if the man fired at me, and if he killed me to shoot every one in the canoe, but they must not fire before the slave shot me. The slave said that he would shoot me if I took the gin cases. I told my men to take the cases and if he killed me then my men knew what to do. The master of the canoe seeing the very great risk of the situation rushed upon the slave, pulled him down on the bottom of the canoe and snatched the gun from him and abused him for his unwise way of dealing, which had put all their lives in the greatest danger. The gin cases were taken on board my boat and I asked the master of the canoe to send the Arsibongs people some news, namely that they had to return the five women they had stolen at Batekka Bamoso, otherwise I should be obliged to catch some of the Calabar people. I should return in three days and then I would call at Bamoso to see if the women had been brought back. I knew very well how I should act. I invited the master to have a little breakfast and dropped the anchor. Having enjoyed his breakfast we departed as friends. Of course, I expected the loss of the gin cases was not so easily forgotten and the friendly face he showed was not his real feeling. I tried to explain and make him understand that it was forbidden to introduce any kind of liquor, guns and powder into these rivers. A few days afterwards on my return to Bibundi I called at Batekka where great festivities and a fancy ball were held to express their joy because the five women had been returned by the Arsibong people. It afforded me great pleasure to see all these happy faces. In fact I very seldom felt so satisfied about the arrangement and settlement of any palaver as just this one, although the same was one of the most risky I came in contact with out in Africa. Very often I had to travel from Bibundi to Victoria. Most of the time I made this trip in a strong sea canoe with twenty hands. We started at midnight and used to arrive about six o’clock in the morning to the last mentioned place. Generally I returned the same day in the afternoon depending on the weather and the sea. Once

ADVENTURES ON CAMEROON MOUNTAINS AND IN BIAFFRAN SWAMPS

95

we started at moonlight with a calm sea and had just arrived on the other side of Debundscha, when a strong tornado came over us and, although my boys were pulling for their lives to double a point and reach Sandy Bay near Bakingille, the time was too short and the heavy gale came over us with the most fearful strength. The canoe capsized, the moon was covered with clouds and in the dark night and a heavy sea we were trying to save our lives by keeping one hand on the railing of the canoe and tried to swim with the other in order to keep clear of the dangerous rocks which we knew if we came near would have meant immediate death. In about two and a half hours we had doubled the point. During the last part of the struggle I was about to give up, but my true boys assisted me; in fact I did not know anything before I walked at Sandy Bay beach. I used to carry with me a little French cognac in case of sickness, and now I got a small glass of it and soon I felt better and, assisted by my good Krumen, I arrived at the town and could begin to dry my clothes by the fire. In the night we were bothered by drivers (the wandering termites). I asked the owner of the house where the offensive smell came from which we noticed when we came inside the same. He told me that his father had been buried in that room a week ago and that they made a fire every night to prevent the smell of his dead body to penetrate the house. The next day the weather was pleasant and we started early in the morning for Victoria, but I shall never forget the flashes of lightning and claps of thunder, the heavy sea, the moon which was covered with clouds, the struggle for life and my true Krumen, the natives who saved me on that black night.

A fearful night on board the small steamer Bibundi Our first years were prosperous and through much labour we increased our capital and decided to buy a small steamer and a lighter for carrying the cargo from Meme to Bibundi river. Mr. Waldau went home and bought a small second-hand Swedish tugboat which we gave the name ‘Bibundi’. I say second-hand but I may state that this tugboat was the best on this part of the Coast. Our engineer and captain, Mr. Anders Björk, was a very clever man not fearing anything. He managed the steamer each rainy season during several years. And I must say that he did so to our great satisfaction. The first time we went up with the tug boat was the 15th of October 1888, at which time we nearly reached Kumbi beach, but the Meme river was full of old giant trees lying all over the river, thus it was a difficult task to get up the same. In the evening we were unfortunate enough to get up on a very big cotton tree stem10 and could not manage to get the steamer away from it. The boat was lying in a very bad position and as the tide went out our position became the more critical. This made a difference of fourteen feet in the height of the water and our steamer drafted five feet. Evidently we were very anxious that the steamer might turn over, be filled with water and sink into the mud. On the steamer depended our whole existence and fortune, having African produce lying up the river to a value of £2500. The night was very dark; Mr. Waldau, Capt. Björk and I were sitting on the railing in the stern of the boat to prevent it

96

KNUT KNUTSON

from tipping. It was a very long night and as the water diminished we suddenly heard a stretching sound in the iron plates and we thought the steamer would burst, but the same was strong. The alligators were jumping around the steamer so we were certain of our fate in case the boat should capsize. When daylight came and the water began to increase more and more the same brought us a little hope. The hours had been long and the hard and uncomfortable way in which we had been sitting during the whole night had made us very tired and excited. The steamer began to rise and at last when daylight came with the sun, it seemed to us that we should soon be able to get off the stern. We swam ashore with a coil of rope, fixed it around a tree and thus we cleared the wooden rock and were happy and looked forward with bright hope and confidence as young men do, having encountered difficulties. But how many times should not the steamer ‘Bibundi’ in the future have to stand heavy tornadoes, cotton trees and banks? Once she was filled with water in the Bibundi river, but was taken up again. I am sure that never had a small steamer ploughed the waves of the old Biafra Bay during so many storms, as our old ‘Bibundi’ did. When we sold our factories to a German Company in 1895, we sold our steamer to one of the native chiefs at Old Calabar. The steamer ‘Bibundi’ was called by the natives at N’dian and Masakke rivers ‘Conga ba Tuttu,’ – ‘The Smoke Boat’ [Bak: Conga ya yututu]. Captain Björk was considered to be a skilful witchman. The natives were very frightened when he blew the steam whistle and said that, ‘now the captain is vexed and he talks steamer palavers.’ I may state that the young Swedes engaged by us were almost all brave and fearless, but I must admit that there were some who were cowards, and strange enough it was the scientific men who proved themselves to be so anxious and afraid of the natives. There was also a young clerk, who once when the Krumen had a row and were fighting at Ekundu factory, crawled under the bed and when the Krumen had settled the affair and it was quiet he crept from his hiding place. Another man, some professor here in Sweden [Sjösstedt ?], trembled and shook in every limb when he heard that a Bakweri man was in the neighbourhood. But at home in Sweden the first-mentioned young man used to tell many stories about his brave deeds and the most celebrated mentioned doctor and professor, and wellknown traveller, has spoken in his book about how he, when in East Africa, killed a hippopotamus in deep water; the professor tied a rope about the head of the killed animal and swimming on its [?his] back the professor towed the huge body through thick pond-weed to the shore. A wonderful strength of the learned man. At another place the professor speaks about how the boat once capsized in the surf of Bibundi river and that a poor Swedish sailor was lost on that occasion. He mentioned how he was sitting on the top of the capsized boat and saw his countryman drown before his eyes, only ten feet from him, although the Doctor and professor was a skilful swimmer, as he must have been having swam and towed a hippopotamus. There was only 30–40 feet to shallow water at the Sandbank of the north shore of Bibundi river. The professor speaks of ‘the rescue in the surf,’ as if it was the most natural thing that he didn’t make any attempt to save the life of his countryman. No doubt, we have also here in Sweden some men who are no men. Fancy this scientific man being cool headed enough, the day after this accident happened, to read the funeral services when the unfortunate sailor was buried. He

ADVENTURES ON CAMEROON MOUNTAINS AND IN BIAFFRAN SWAMPS

97

writes about this service in his book11 as follows: ‘What strange functions a man sometimes has to fulfil during his life.’ Perhaps, but it had been better if the scientific man had made it his duty to save the man or at least made [an attempt]. The opinion among the Swedes, who at that time were in Bibundi when the accident happened, was that the scientific man had not done his duty and thus his reputation was ruined. How different from this scientific man, acted not my other countrymen, such as Bovallius and Linnell, both of whom had many hundred times been up by the Bakweri and Bomboko and had lived alone in small bush factories and always proved themselves to be very brave men.

The witchcraft palaver at Sanji. The Germans burn the old town. A small girl killed. In Sanji and Lewunjo there had been, in February 1891, a witchcraft palaver where a man had, according to the native religious decision, been sentenced to death and killed. In order to learn if a man was guilty or not according to witchcraft, he was compelled to drink a bowl of Sassawood water and if he vomited the same he was declared not guilty. Because this man could not vomit he was proclaimed guilty and killed. The German commissioner of the Victoria district decided to punish the Sanji [Sanje] people for this, although I declared that the witchman was the only guilty man, and that a proclamation must be published that witchcraft was not allowed, before the Government burnt the town. But the small Governor came with a German Man-of-War and informed the Sanji people that they had to settle the matter by paying one hundred goats in the course of twenty-four hours, or he would burn the town. The old king of Sanji and all the rich men had their goats up the mountains and could not get them down in due time. I had spoken to the captain of the German Gunboat and also to Dr. Krabbes and I promised to be responsible for the payment and that it should be fulfilled in the course of three or four days. It was impossible to persuade them. They had decided that Sanji should be burned and I shall never forget when I came back from the Man-of-War how the King Mottute and his chiefs stared at me as if they tried to read on my face their own fate. The poor men had brought three big bags of rubber and sixteen goats, all that they had in their town at that time. I told them in their own language that the small Governor and the captain of the Man-of-War would not give them more than twenty-four hours from six o’clock, for paying the fine. That morning they had all their wives, children and goods away, as the Germans intended to begin the war the next morning at six o’clock. The old king and his chiefs were very much upset and crying and weeping. They asked me once more to go over to the Man-of-War and beg them not to burn their towns. Their forefathers had lived there for sixteen generations, their people was a dying race, why should the Germans fight them when they were German subjects. They would promise never to allow a man to be killed for witchcraft. I told them that I had begged both the Germans very much not to burn their town and that I had offered them security for the payment of the fine but the small Governor and the com-

98

KNUT KNUTSON

mander of the Man-of-War had answered that they were obliged to constitute an example of what would follow when [a man] was killed for witchcraft. There was no doubt that their town would be bombarded the following morning. I told them that I was very sorry not to have been able to prohibit this unjust bombardment. I shall never forget the unhappy expression on their faces and the bitter complaints because of their misfortune. The king and chiefs thanked me several times and with grieved hearts they ran home and began to move from a place where the old wild forefathers, the Collebungos, had lived since five hundred years ago. I may add that the same evening I went on board the Man-of-War once more and asked the small Governor, Dr Krabbes, not to burn the town and tried to convince them of the fact that it would be a great loss to the government and for me when the trade would be stopped. I thought that this loss of income of duties would have an influence on these men, but they only told me to take care of myself and not interfere in political questions. The next morning about six o’clock the German Man-of-War began to throw shells over the Sanji town, and soon flames and smoke showed us the shameful way in which the civilization was carried on in the German Colony of the Cameroons. A small girl was killed. The Sanji people fled into the bush, and hid there for some years. The old King Mottue did not live so long after the bombardment. I saw him only once more and then he was like a shadow of what he formerly had been and died of a broken heart. The last part of his life he lived only with hate for the white men and especially for the Germans. Although we had been very good friends formerly and he had told me many interesting details about the Colle people, after the bombardment of his old beloved town he could never forgive us white men and considered all of us to be a lot of murderers.

Editor’s Notes 1. The Rio del Rey is not, of course, a river, as Knutson first thought, but a large inlet. 2. Probably this was Captain Allen of the Royal Navy, not George Allen, whom Knutson knew, the doctor-trader who lived in the Cameroon Estuary, see Ardener, S.G. 1958: 55n.27; Johnston 1908: 52n.2, 1923: 184–5; Lewis 1930: 84. 3. One of several folk etymologies. 4. Dracena is often called ‘life plant’ or ‘peace plant’ in Cameroon, and is sometimes used as a boundary marker. 5. Knutson gives several spellings, Mussakka being the most common and therefore adopted here. 6. Knutson gives alternative spellings: Kumba Lyongo, and Ekumba Lyongo = Ekumbe Liongo on modern maps, the latter being used on the map based on a sketch by Waldau, and also Dusén’s map of 1887. Ekumba has several sections, see note 8. 7. Jiggers are small flea-like insects which burrow into toes and cause them to swell up, causing discomfort. They are still best picked out with a splinter of bamboo or wood.

ADVENTURES ON CAMEROON MOUNTAINS AND IN BIAFFRAN SWAMPS

99

8. Ekumbi or Ekumbe is probably the name of the settlement when not followed by the adjective, when the final sound is elided to match its qualifier, thus possibly Ekumb’a Lyongo (=Ekumbe Liongo on modern maps) and Ekumbi ba Bonschi (Bonja on modern map?) and Valdau’s Ekumba Ndene (=?Ekumbe Ekundunene on modern map). Also see Ekumbe Mofako on modern map. 9. Sic – spelled with a slash. 10. Cotton trees grow to enormous height, and girth of several metres. 11. See Sjöstedt (or Sjösstedt) 1897.

100

KNUT KNUTSON

Figure 13: Headman of Ekundu Ndene. © The National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Per Dusén, 1894

CHAPTER 8

Religion and Customs of the Bakweri and Bomboko

To penetrate into the religion of the natives is only possible for a man who knows the native language and is well acquainted with their customs, and has entertained true friendship with the same. During the long dark evenings in the small hunthouses up in the mountains and down in the bush, I had the opportunity to gain their full confidence because I shared the difficulties and hardships during the hunting trips and always treated them in a very humane way, thus the natives opened their hearts to me, knowing that I was their true friend on whom they could rely. For two years we lived in the same house at Mapanja, spoke the Bakweri language and hunted together. Sometimes we had large quantities of antelope meat and plantains, other times we had none, in all events we shared our food and were happy. Thus we lived in a congenial atmosphere and during that time I observed these natives very closely. I became informed of their religion, customs, laws and the daily life. By such a way it was possible for me to obtain more knowledge about the religion of the Bakweri and Bomboko than the Germans have been able to do in the course of thirty years, just because such men as v. Leist and v. Puttkamer, both German noblemen, have through their bad behaviour and example spoiled the reputation of the white race in Cameroons. The natives of Cameroons were, since the mentioned gentlemen began to misrule Cameroons, very suspicious of the white men in general – but of course, mostly of the Germans. It has therefore not been possible for the same to get any information about the religion of the natives. The confidence in the Germans soon vanished and will undoubtedly not return again. During the long evenings in the hunting huts I used always to ask my black hunting companions about their Gods and religion and Mbua of Mapanja told me about the religion of the Bakweri as follows: The greatest and highest God among the Bakweri and Bomboko is Loba [lova] who, Mbua said, lives in the air above the big Peak of Cameroon Mountain. He was characterized by Mbua by the words, ‘He gets no body, you can think about him, but you will never be able to see him.’ He has the ability to move everywhere and moves faster than the thoughts of men, and is present everywhere. Sometimes when

102

KNUT KNUTSON

Loba is vexed over the wicked acts of his people he kills them with lightning flashes. Loba governs the thunder and rules the sun, moon and stars. Loba has two sons of which one is good, by the name Ovasse, and the other Mokasse who is wicked.1 Ovasse often takes the shape of a tall agreeable black man, but has the power to take any form he desires, and has further the ability to vanish and can instantly move from one place to another, but he does not possess the gift of his father, namely, to be present everywhere. Ovasse who is the incarnation of all good on earth, possesses the power to protect all good people and make them happy. He is the ruler of many lower Gods who give good luck in fishing, hunting, abundant crops and richness in general. Ovasse further protects all good people from the plots made up by Mokasse and his helpers. Mokasse is stationary in the crater of the big Cameroon peak. He is a great white man with a very large head and his back is hollow so he looks like a monster. He is delighted with the sufferings of the people and does his utmost to seduce them to sin. He is the God and ruler of the deep crater of the Cameroon Peak out of which the flames of fire and sulphur vapours arise. Inside the crater the eternal fire glows and this Mokasse uses as a place of torture for the malicious dead people. It is believed that Mokasse fetches the evil dead and carries them with him to the crater and brings them to life again, then roasts them in the terrible fire of the crater, where the poor people are tortured in the most fearful way. Sometimes when snow falls upon the great peak, Mokasse brings up his wretched, half roasted people from the crater and rolls them about in the snow. Many times the hunters sleeping in the Buea peoples’ huts in the night, hear the fearful and loud howls from the miserable victims mixed with the moans of the raging wind about the peak and the crater. It is said that Mokasse has many lower Gods and evil ministering spirits, who work very energetically to assist him. Between Ovasse and Mokasse is always war, but the fight is always unsettled. One day Ovasse is the strongest and another day Mokasse is the conqueror. To proclaim the wishes and the will of the Gods, there is a priest Caste called Monjana ba Liemba,2 witchmen who have very great authority over the Bakweri and the Bomboko people although the same are very much hated by the tribes. The witchmen are, according to what my friends told me, divided into many different classes: 1 Witchmen who have the task to punish wicked persons who of Mokasse have gotten the gift to bewitch their fellow creatures and make them sick or kill them. These witchmen proved very detrimental and caused much unhappiness and misery among the innocent natives. 2 Rain and sun makers, who only are employed to produce rain and sun when the same are needed. During six weeks I saw such a fellow calling urgently for rain, but without success. This man, who promised the Bibundi people rain, amused me very much and I called him ‘moto ma molanga’, instead of ‘moto ma liemba,’ translated ‘the lie man’, instead of ‘the witchman’. At last rain came and he was very happy and proud of the fact. 3 A class of witchman who ordained amulets which should give a person luck in fishing and hunting and protect the bearer from sickness and death and also grant many children in the family, goats and fowl.

RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE BAKWERI AND BOMBOKO

103

4 A further class of witchmen who have the gift to discover such persons who through Mokasse had got the power to rule animals, such as elephants and leopards and through them do other people great damage, leading the animals into their farms. 5 Another who had the gift to discover thieves and stolen goods. And many others whom it should take too long time to mention. According to what was told me, the official function of the witchman often proceeds in the same family from grandfather to son’s son or uncle to nephew, but never from father to son. It takes ten rainy seasons, or ten years, to teach the witch-scholars their profession. The witchmen can trouble anyone they wish without the exception of kings or distinguished men who have attained the highest degree of the religious communion of Bomboko, called ‘Ekalé.’ I beg to mention that Duallas, Bakweri and Bomboko have several high spirits who possess great power, as Ekalé of Bomboko and Yengo [=Liengu] of Bakweri3 and Ekkolekoto of Duallas. The priests or witchmen have a great many Gods, high spirits, rules and regulations to deal with and I’m quite sure that to remember all these must be very difficult. In Bakingille I met an old witchman from Bomboko who told me that his knowledge of all rules and regulations which were combined with the mysterious, religious, holy societies, he had gained through studies during twenty-thirty years. He spoke of a high-school for witchmen among the Bantu tribes living around Meme, Mungo and Wuri, which was ambulant and he said that it was very difficult to be introduced into the same. The old King Befongo of Bibundi who was a poor man but possessed of a great sympathy and confidence for his incorruptible justice, told me once between four eyes,4 that he considered the witchmen and the religious society Ekalé as a great swindle. The new members had to donate a great many goats and cows, which were divided and eaten among the old members and the witchmen. Besides they had to pay a certain fee for each degree they obtained. There is some good idea in it. The king said, ‘A man who has a reputation for covetousness or dishonesty cannot become a member of the highest order of the Ekalé society, even if he is the richest man in the town, he can never be entitled to sit on the Ekalé bench, because it would be a great shame for the other members, and Loba or Ovasse might punish them. In Bibundi was a man who by the partition of an inheritance had not acted fair with his brothers and sisters, and for that reason he could never obtain more than the lowest degree of Ekalé.’ We ought to have such societies here in Sweden where often a brother robs his sister of her inheritance, as I have many times noticed. King Befongo proposed that I should join the Ekalé Society, but I considered it to be against my religious view, so much the more because of the reception ceremonies. The members used to cut themselves in the arms and mix the blood which afterwards was put into palmwine and then drunk by the members. Further, on a reception for a certain degree, the king told me that they used to dance naked, and such formalities conflicted with my principles. I return now to the witchmen, who are both priests and physicians amongst the natives, and beg herewith to draw up a sketch from an occasion when a brother of

104

KNUT KNUTSON

our interpreter Mbua Mosikao living at N’Binga [M’binga, =Bwenga?] was accused of having killed a man by witchcraft, at that place. He had to drink the sassa wood [=sasswood] to prove himself not guilty of their accusation. His brother asked me to follow him to N’Binga and if possible help him. At the same time there was also a woman accused of witchcraft, who also had to pass the sassa water proof [test]. We managed to smuggle some ipecacuanha pills5 to Mbua’s brother, so that he vomited the water and was declared free, but the poor woman was killed a few days afterward. A man in N’Binga had died and his soul [was thought to] have been eaten by the brother of Mbua. A Yengo woman struck the door of Mbua’s brother’s house with the Yola, a certain kind of batlet made of twined fibres [Njola], which act signified that the owner of the house was considered guilty of the crime. Hence the whole population of the town, men and women, gathered in a large circle in the middle of which the medicine man took place and began to run around, crying and dancing and told about the very great difficulty in finding the man who was guilty of the crime, namely, to have eaten the soul of the deceased. He said, ‘I shall discover him even if he tries to creep down and hide himself in the grave of his poor victim, he must be discovered.’ The occupants of the house which the Yengo woman had struck with the Yola batlet were now very anxious. The medicine man began to describe a certain man, whom he considered to be the guilty one, and the description soon proved that it was Mbua’s brother. The medicine man began to dance more violently, his movements were so frantic that it seemed to me that the man must have gotten a nervous shock. His mouth frothed, his howls and leaps increased, but at last he stopped. He stood still for a moment critically examining the bystanders, suddenly with a wild bestial howl he rushed forward on M’Boe’s brother and struck him with his cane on the shoulder, shouting that there was the man for whom they had been looking so eagerly. The witchman had now fulfilled his work; exhausted and perspiring he retreated from the scene. The accused man was tied and watched during two days, before he should ‘njo mallua ma pave’ – drink the water from the small poisonous stem. Some days afterward the poor man had to go through the poison proof and I’m glad to say that he was fortunate enough to be successful. The act was carried out in the following way: All the people of the town of N’Binga and also foreigners, to whom I belonged, and I believe I’m one of the few white men who have been allowed to be present at such a ceremony, were standing in a square with a big drum in the middle, on which a bowl was placed, containing about three or four litres of water, in which were placed four or five pieces of fresh sassafras wood (pave). The accused man had not eaten or drank anything for two days, and was now carried forward by the medicine man, who tested the poisoned water two or three times, touching it with his hands. He let some drops fall right down in his mouth to show and prove that the water was not too poisonous. Then the medicine man made a gesture with his hand to the accused man to begin to drink. The same stepped forward calmly and drank the contents of the bowl. I could easily see how the empty stomach was filled, and now the question was, death or life for the accused man. Mbua’s brother began to vomit the poisonous water to the great

RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE BAKWERI AND BOMBOKO

105

delight of his brother, friends and me. When we came to his house his wives were dressed in the best cloth they owned. They put a new piggencloth [? waistcloth, or lappa=wrapper] on their returned and rehabilitated husband and put his old one into the fire. His friends were firing their guns, and I did so too, and a fancy ball was held by his friends before his house. With a word, they did all they could to show their joy because their husband and friend had been fortunate enough to pass through the fearful poisonous water proof. But in case the accused should not vomit the water and thus prove that he was guilty of the crime, he would in most events be killed very quickly and cut into small pieces. They used to keep some very small pieces of the hand, foot, nose and ear which they dried and put in a small basket and hid them well in the house. It was considered that these relics should have a certain protective power against witchcraft. If some old men and women are accused of bewitching and they have only bewitched a child, the punishment can be reconciled with some fines in form of goats, sheep, etc. During our stay at Mapanja, Mr. Waldau and I rescued several people who were unfortunate enough not to pass through the water proof, and asked the king and population to give us the declared witchpeople, whom we brought down to the Baptist Mission in Victoria.

The rescue of a Witchwoman It seemed very curious that the members of some families were more accused of witchcraft than others. My friend Mbua Mosekao had a brother, as afore related, who had passed the water proof and now at last his mother was stigmatized to be a witchwoman. I shall never forget the great grief which was shown by her children, when their mother, who had shown Mr. Waldau and me such great hospitality and kindness, was declared by the medicine man to have eaten or bewitched a child who had recently died. She was accused of witchcraft because she was unfortunate enough to have a couple of owls living in a big cotton tree across from her house. It was believed that the old woman and the owls both possessed some influence upon the death of the child, and the priest and medicine man had declared that the old woman must pass through the fearful water proof. She tried to do so but was not successful and had to suffer very much from the effect of the poison. I succeeded in my attempt to get her free and had to pay a few pounds, which I did with great pleasure. I had to promise the old King Mossasso to carry the woman personally down to the Mission station in Victoria, which I also did and beg now to refer to the event. Since she was sentenced to death because she could not pass the water proof, all her children and relatives according to the religious rules and regulations, could have nothing in common with her hereafter. Her own sons, who had gone in the Mission school, conducted by Rev. Comber,6 didn’t dare to come to her and we had to keep her in one of our small houses during the time she was sick and also gave her food. She was about sixty years old but after the fearful sickness from the poison and the agony of the soul which she had gone through before the proof, she

106

KNUT KNUTSON

appeared to be one hundred years of age. The poor woman, what she had suffered, rejected by all the people in Mapanja, disowned by her children. She now stood more alone than ever and she often cried, ‘If I had not formerly opened my house for the white men and shown them hospitality and friendship, I should now have been killed.’ When she had recovered from her sickness I took her with me to Victoria and I shall never forget the threnodies [dirges] she sang and the speech she made when we left the fence of the village of Mapanja, where she had lived all her life. She said thus, that ‘Now she had to leave a place where she was born. Here she had been married and had lived in happiness with her husband until he died. Here she had borne her children, and she had been happy enough until now. She had believed that she should end her days here, but Loba would not allow her to do so, Mokasse had been too powerful.’ Her fate was one of the most pitiful. She had been accused of a crime which she had never committed, ‘and the worst of all,’ she said, ‘I couldn’t pass through the sassa wood drinking. Now I am one of the most despised women here in the town and my social reputation is gone.’ She only deplored her own fate, but was at the same time thankful for all happy days she had spent in Mapanja-town which she loved above all. My heart was touched by hearing the poor witchwoman’s poetical threnodies and I dare say that she seemed to me to be more unhappy than most of the people I met. She asked me several times how I believed the missionaries would accept her and if they would treat her well. To all these questions I answered her that I was certain that they would treat her very well and that she must try to turn to the Christian faith and that it was the only way for her to get a chance of seeing her sons. I delivered the old woman to a black missionary teacher, by name Mr. Wilson, who at that time was in charge of the mission in Victoria. I asked him to treat her well. He had about forty witch people to care for then and they were working in the farm. After some years the witchcraft palaver was forgotten, and she was happy enough to meet her sons when they visited Victoria market. But never shall it leave my memory when I heard her lamentations that Loba was cruel to let her suffer so much. She deplored having been born and was very very unhappy etc. She was never allowed to come to Mapanja any more. I spoke to her sons about the fate of their mother which they considered despicable. Their mother had always been a good and tenderhearted woman. Although they had great love and affection for her, they told me that they would run a very great risk showing it before the public.

The man who had power over elephants Once in Bibundi a man by name Malombi, a nephew of the old king and who reckoned to be king in the future, as he at present is, was declared to possess some wonderful power over elephants (veli njokko) [Bak: a veni njoku] as the natives say.7 He was compelled to pay very heavy fines and he was deprived of both his wives and his goats. Although he denied energetically to have anything to do with elephants, he was sentenced to have had some shuffle with them. Malombi came

RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE BAKWERI AND BOMBOKO

107

to me and asked me to assist him. He assured me that he had nothing to do with elephants, which animals he hated, now more than ever. I told him that I should send for King Befongo and the chiefs and have a talk with them about the matter. They came to me the following day and I began to speak about Malombi and his elephant palaver. The three men who had the fate of Malombi in their hands told me that they liked Malombi very much, he was a good man, but they must deplore that he had a bad habit of leading elephants who damaged the farms of his neighbours, and there was no use for Malombi to deny the fact. They said, ‘You can see for yourselves how the elephants have been tumbling about on his neighbours farms, but never put their feet on any of Malombi’s ground.’ King Befongo said, ‘I am Malombi’s uncle and I have taken his part in this palaver, but his way of dealing is not just.’ It was decided that the three old influential men and members of the court should go and look at the farms. We went away, and I must say that I was amazed when I noticed that the explanation which the king had given was quite correct.8 It was a very strange fact, but the elephants had, for some reason or other avoided Malombi’s farm, and this special fate and luck was for him a great misfortune. In such circumstances it had not been possible to deny the fact that the elephants had a certain regard for Malombi’s farms. Although I was sorry for his fate, I could not help him. However I engaged him as the chief headman of the country people for the transportation [of my trade goods] from Ekumba Lyongo to Motuttu on Meme. Malombi proved to be a very industrious fellow and made a good deal of money in trading. But one day the king of Kumbe-town, situated on the lower Meme river where Malombi was carrying the oil and kernels, came to me complaining that since Malombi had begun to travel in this district, the elephants had increased. He was very sorry to state this fact and asked me to drive Malombi away soonest possible. He said, ‘Several men, as well in Bibundi as here at Balundu, have seen Malombi walk about during the night leading the elephants in the most friendly way on neighbouring farms which they spoiled.’ The king repeated several times that he would be very thankful to me if I would at once discharge Malombi. I proposed to him that I should ask Malombi to bewitch the elephants so that they would go away. However Malombi declared that he had no power to do so but a friend up the Bonge Lianni would help him in the matter. Soon the rainy season arrived and the elephants vanished because they could find water everywhere in the bush and the king of Kumbe was satisfied to have gotten rid of the elephants. Malombi stayed with me during two or three years before he returned to his town. Then he bought back his wives and goats and is at present the King of Bibundi.

* * * * * Very often I passed up the Meme river and it happened sometimes that because of the rain I was obliged to stop with a Kumbe slave whom I found to be very interesting. It was quite a pleasure for me to hear this slave utter his opinion of this and that. I found him to be quite a philosopher and all he said, logical. The rain was pouring down, the Meme river was rising and it was growing darker but at last we reached the house of the Kumbe slave and asked to be received and for a place to sleep during the night. We were welcomed and when

KNUT KNUTSON

108

we had finished our dinner and changed our clothes, we made ourselves comfortable by the fire where we enjoyed a chat with our clever friend. He said that he could not understand why I always worked so hard, in pleasant weather, in rain, storm and thunder, it made no difference. ‘What profit do you think you will gain for your labour,’ he said. ‘The result of all your work will be a place in the ground, that’s all.’ He said, Don’t trouble yourselves so much, look at me for instance, I’m only a poor slave from Batanga and I consider that I have it much better than you, with all your work and merchandise to look after. You never have the time to feel quite happy. When you go out to hunt you cannot leave your work altogether but you think and worry about it. When I work on the farm I take sufficient time, I pay my master a puncheon of palmoil yearly, that is all and when that is fulfilled I do as I please. The plantain trees and yams give abundant crops, and I never have to worry about food. I consider myself much happier than you. When a man asks me to choose between my position and that of yours I never hesitate to answer, that I prefer my own.

I was very surprised to find a man who expressed his opinion so freely and cleverly. He told me ‘that his views of life were different to those of most men he had hitherto met and he considered contentedness to be the best gift a man could carry with him through life. If you have that as your companion you will always feel satisfied’, he said smiling. I asked him about his social position as a slave, and he said that although himself a slave he had two slaves who were settled further up the river and that his master treated him very fairly and that he had proposed to him lately to pay a certain amount to be free. He had already paid about one third of the sum and could if he wished, be free any day he liked, but he would wait until the next rainy season. He said that an owner of slaves had no right to ask for any more work or yearly payment than had been stipulated in the contract. When such a mutual contract is made up, the slave used to have two arbitrators and the master two, and a chief or headman who is known to be a prominent member of nyangbé [see below], and an honest man would also be present, as a kind of president. When the master has received the contract’s yearly amount in palmoil, kernels or other products during two years, the contract is considered to run for life for both parts. As a rule after ten or fifteen years when the slaves have worked and gained an amount of money, the owners usually propose that they pay a certain amount and thus become free. If a master should treat his slaves badly there was a certain law which permitted the last-mentioned to leave their master, and to knock the head of another free man telling him to kill a fowl, which both eat, and then pay the same amount that his Massa once paid for him. It is for this reason that the slave owners are afraid to treat the slaves in such a way so that they have reason to run away. The master must see that the slave marries. The wife and children of the slave also belong to the master so that when a slave wishes to buy himself free and also his wife and children, he must pay a very great amount. The money that the slave and his wife and children have earned by their own work, the master had no right to dispose over [dispossess] as long as they live. If a free man should like to buy the daughter of a slave, he had to pay the master of her father, and if the girl car-

RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE BAKWERI AND BOMBOKO

109

Figure 14: The Master of the Nyangbé ceremony among the Mbonge This costume is only worn during the annual Nyangbé feasts. Slaves, women and children are not allowed to be present. Under threat of life punishment, no one may maltreat the person who wears the Nyangbé costume. © The National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Per Dusén.

ries with her some money, either earned or given to her by her father, this is her private property and cannot be taken from her without her consent. The slaves very often establish their own slave towns, as it used to be among the Ekumbi and Balundu people, and I dare say that many of the Bakundu men are free-bought slaves. The slaves are, according to what the Kumbe man told me, many times very rich, but some of them prefer to be slaves all their life, having a high position among their own slave tribe. Their masters very often owe them money, and the slaves are in reality the masters. The social laws among the free men and the slaves are very interesting and very complex. I have never seen any literature with regards to this matter. Among the Bakweri I did not see any slaves but heard that sometimes when a man was sentenced for adultery he was declared to be a slave and sold. The slaves who, because of stealing and bad conduct, had been sentenced, were considered to stand upon a much lower scale of social position than slaves who had not been punished or sentenced. I once heard an old slave king in Bakundu town speak of the great difference between a slave caught in war and sold, and one who had been sentenced for a crime and thus became a slave. He said, ‘We who are caught in war and sold, we are free slaves but the criminals are no slaves they are simply crimi-

110

KNUT KNUTSON

nals and would very seldom be asked to buy themselves free, and not given a chance to marry nor could they gain the confidence of their master.’ The slave who used to speak so much with me when I passed the Kumbe territory had a very fine farm and was a hard working man, earning yearly a good deal from palmoil and kernels. I am indebted to him for my knowledge about the social questions regarding the slaves which seemed to me to be worth a careful study.

The Birth of Children, Brothers and Sisters, Parents, Education, Marriage When we lived up at Mapanja we had a neighbour whose name was Makamba, and his wife had just gotten a little son. Makamba was a brave man and brother of Letongo, killed in war with Mokundu [Mokunda]. He came to me and asked me to come and see his son. I went, and how surprised was I to find the son to have white skin and the mother already walking about although it was only two hours since the confinement had taken place. I heard to my surprise that all black children are white when they are born and noticed that after about forty eight hours after the birth the black colour began to appear. I asked Makamba and his wife if they had no midwife at this occasion and then he pointed to an old woman who had been engaged to help. Makamba fired his gun six times when the boy was born and was very happy when I congratulated him and wished him good luck and that his son might be such a brave and good man as his father. Makamba was so delighted with my words that he exclaimed that the boy should carry my name.9 The children are educated in a very free way and are very seldom punished by their parents, and I may say that I never found the black children up to so many tricks as white children are wont to be up to. The children love their parents very much and I remember once when I travelled over Cameroon Mountains to Bomana and had a Mimbia man as guide, who had his mother settled there. I shall never forget the great affection the man showed her when they met. First they stood looking at each other a long time, then they ran towards each other and put shoulder against shoulder crying, ‘Molla Iija, tatta mana kokko, ba navello.’ – ‘My dear mother, my father and my small boy, I believe I’m dying.’ They repeated the words several times and the man told me that he would not fear to die now since he had seen his dear mother. The children do not play as much as ours do, and they seem to mature much earlier than ours both in mind and body. At ten and twelve years of age the girls are married and their husbands are many times only boys of fifteen and sixteen. Between brothers and sisters I may state that they seemed to be on the most friendly terms. I never noticed any quarrels during the half year which I lived in the same house together with a Bakweri family. When the men returned tired from their hunting, the sisters used to keep the food hot and always had some good pieces for their brothers, who I may say to their merit, always said something kind about their sisters. The father liked the girls better than the boys. The girls he sold for a high price but for the boys he had to buy a wife. The price of a wife used to be, among the Bakweri, thirty to fifty goats or thirty to fifty Croo in goods. An old widow would not be worth more than five or ten goats.

RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE BAKWERI AND BOMBOKO

111

Among the Duallas the price of a wife was from fifty to one hundred Croo in goods, the father of the bride had to pay the expenses of the wedding, which was as a rule not very expensive. The payment must as a rule be fulfilled before the husband had the right to marry the girl, even if he had paid forty-eight Croos of the fifty, and only two Croos remained, the father of the bride had the right to allow the marriage but he could if he wished take some of his grand-daughters as security for the two Croo which his son-in-law had not fully paid. In some cases when a woman has been sold and married, and she has not borne any children or died soon after the wedding, the father who has sold the girl must return the goats or goods to her husband. The bride is often carried on the shoulder of one of her brothers or a good friend of the bridegroom to the house of her intended where she has to stay alone for two or three days. In Bomboko the father of the bride used to run around on the streets weeping and crying loudly because he was very unhappy over the loss of his daughter who always had been so very good to him. Some friends of both the families used to fire their guns to celebrate the wedding in the same manner as formerly was done by us. I was present at a marriage in Bibundi, the 23rd of April 1884, and took part in the dinner given by the father of the bride. A small pig was killed and abundant fish and plantains were cooked. A dance was held in which the groom and many young men and girls took a lively part, but the bride and some of her intimate girl friends were alone in the house of the bridegroom where they were compelled to stay until the two days were past.

* * * * * Among the Bakweri the women have more power than among any other tribes which I have come in contact with, and that depending upon the very important religious society which is called Yengo and in which only women are allowed to be members.

Yengo [Jengu, Liengu]10 Yengo is one of the highest holy spirits who is said to live only on the mountains and who is presumed to be a remnant from the time when the Boobees and Batekkas lived on the mountains. There was a young girl in Mapanja who was a member of the Yengo, by the way, a cousin of Mbua Mosekao. She had to stay in the Yengo house for a year and a half, to become fully instructed in the mysteries of the Yengo society. The Yengo girls were not allowed to leave the Yengo house and did not wear any cloth, only a girdle of some long grass, around the waist. No people were allowed, with the exception of the medicine man who was their teacher, to enter the Yengo house. Once I passed their house and looked into the same and noticed some painted wooden masks lying on the ground, and the girls were sitting by the fire singing some of the Yengo songs. Sometimes the voice of a Yengo woman was heard in the night. She shouted in her shrillest tones and made the people very frightened. The members of the Yengo society and the medicine man were on the best of terms and worked in unison as I have already mentioned.

112

KNUT KNUTSON

About this mysterious society it was very difficult to become informed, because it meant punishment by death if any one of the members of the Yengo related anything about the rules and regulations. The married people among the Bakweri seemed to me to be in most cases very happy. Although the man was the master of the house and sometimes showed that he had the power, I think that the woman had much more to say in the house. I remember a man in Mapanja who said that it was easier to talk with five men than with one woman and that he preferred peace with his wife. Divorce between a married couple was not common, but when it happened it was because the wife had been accused of witchcraft, sentenced for adultery or was sterile. The man had the right to drive his wife away after the divorce, but he did not do so because the woman is considered to be most valuable for the sake of bearing girls. An adulteress among the Bakweri is punished very severely. In Mokunda I saw a woman who had many very deep cuts on her back and arms which the people said she had received because she had committed adultery.

Laws and Punishments of the Bakweri and Bomboko Although the Bakweri and Bomboko have no law books, they have some rules and regulations which are written in their hearts and are very good, and without which it would be very difficult to govern the people. The king of the town together with the members of the court have the office of the judge. The accused man is allowed to have a man who is his defendant, who helps him to respond to the accusations made. The witnesses are heard, but an oath in the same meaning as ours doesn’t exist. The most common crimes are theft and adultery. The 20th of January 1885 I had the opportunity to be present at a court held for a Boando man who had stolen a pig from King Mossasso of Mapanja. The King of the town, according to his position, always acted as chairman of the court, but on this occasion he asked the members of the court to select a man in his place, as he was incompetent for this function at present being plaintiff in this case. The Boando man had been seen when he stole the pig, by some men who were tapping the palm trees of wine. The son of the king and two men caught the thief who carried in his bag the pig tied with some twine round the jaws so the same was not able to squeal. He was now brought to Mapanja where the court at once assembled and declared him guilty, but he denied and said that he thought that the pig belonged to Waldau and me, and that he intended to take care of the pig, who ran about in the bush and would return the same to Waldau and me. The chief, Mosingi, who was chairman, asked him if the white men lived in Mapanja or in Boando. He answered, ‘In Mapanja.’ But the king said, ‘You were caught when you were walking on the road which leads to Boando.’ The thief answered that he made up his mind that afternoon to return and bring us the pig, and then perhaps Mr. Waldau and I would have given him a nice reward for his trouble. The chairman at once gave an order to begin the punishment. One of the members of the court drove down some sticks in the ground by which the legs and arms were tightly bound and I thought the poor thief would not be able to stand the tor-

RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE BAKWERI AND BOMBOKO

113

ture. Although he got a very good lashing, he continued to lie and would not admit his theft. Then some Yengo women came with some smoking firebrands in their hands and began a wild dance around the tied thief, singing about the king’s pig, which liked the Boanda man so very much that it crept down into the thief’s bag, indeed! Very wonderful! How could it have been possible that the pig did so? They asked the thief not to lie any more, and they sang, ‘The lie is the brother of the thief.’ Then they began to strike his naked body with their firebrands. Then the thief howled and shouted very much, saying that he confessed all, he was the thief, and begged them not to burn him anymore. He ‘had acted foolish and would never do so any more’. This he repeated several times. He was made free and had to pay a fine of ten goats, which his uncle at Mapanja had to be responsible for. It was great luck that the thief was of a family who was in relationship with the Mapanja people, otherwise he would have been short of one ear. When the value of the stolen goods is equal to 10 goats, the punishment in all events is the loss of one ear and, besides, at least twenty goats.

Crimes and punishments 1 The sentence for small things, with a value less than 5 shillings, which are stolen, as tobacco, some food, as plantains, yams, cocos [cocoyams]:- about one or two goats, the first time, but the second time, five goats and a good deal of flogging. The third time they would have to pay a very heavy fine, about twenty-five goats and be officially flogged on the market place, and if they denied the theft they would be tied and burned like the Boando man referred to. 2 Stealing chickens and small pigs that roamed about the country would be severely punished and there was:- for the first time, a sentence of ten goats, the second time, twenty or thirty goats and a heavy lashing and one ear. The third time, the other ear, fifty or sixty goats and a very hard lashing. 3 For stealing goats or burglary, pieces of Satin-stripe, a keg of powder or a gun, the punishment would be:- for the first time, one ear and as many goats as the court decided. The second time, the other ear, and the third time the thief would be killed or sold as a slave. King Mossasso and King Begongo told me what a long time it took a man to be well informed in order to judge in all matters of the court. Only in stealing, there were so many different sentences and punishments to be learned. A murderer was not allowed to come before the court, he was left in the hands of the family who were in the nearest relationship with the killed person, and they must if they did not want to carry the shame all their life, carry out the blood revenge. The mentioned Makamba of Mapanja had a brother who was killed by a Mokunda man and Makamba tried his best to shoot the murderer of his brother. He had given, according to the customs of the Bakweri, the promise, before the Yengo women, not to cut his hair or nails, not to wear cloth, hat or shirt until he had carried out the blood revenge. For a whole year I saw my friend Makamba every day step out early in the morning with his gun, to look for an opportunity which would enable him to kill the murderer of his brother. He returned late in the evening of each day

114

KNUT KNUTSON

but without result. He told me several times how difficult it was to get hold of the murderer, but that there was no doubt that he sometime would be able to shoot him, and that until he had done so he would never feel any peace in his mind. One morning I was awakened very early by many gun-shots fired near my house, I got up and saw Makamba with cut hair and trimmed nails dressed in fine cloth, a new hat and white singlet, dancing outside the door of his house, and firing his gun repeatedly. He was now proud and cheerful and told me that he was so happy because he knew that he had done his duty, and now his relatives would not say that Makamba was a low-minded man. He had fulfilled the blood revenge. On only two occasions has a man the right to kill another, and that is on the afore-named blood revenge, as a near relative, and also in case of self-defence. But in the last instance there should be at least some witnesses who proved that it was necessary. If a woman is killed among the Bakweri, the husband is not responsible for carrying out the blood revenge but the killed woman’s brother, uncle or cousin. In case she should not have any relatives, her husband or sons are obliged to kill the murderer. Sometimes the crime has been settled by paying a very large amount of money. ‘What is the competence of the members of your loyal jury?’ I once asked King Njeka of Binga. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘they must be old men, standing on our highest scale, as well of social as religious prestige, and acknowledged. Many times that is not enough and we have to engage some old wise men with more professional knowledge if a special case is to be tried. Full evidence could be confirmed by two or three witnesses or else by drinking the sassawood water as I have mentioned before.’ Among the Bakweri the king and the members of the court took a certain amount of goods for having judged the case, about 15–20% of the whole. The majority of cases that the court had to try were actions of debt, and I was many times present in Mapanja when such cases were tried, and I must say that the jury was just in their decision. I consider that the same, in many cases, judged much better than a white jury would have done. So was my experience. A woman could not go to law with any person, but she had the right by proxy to try to get her rights at the court. A woman had the right to possess private goods that she had earned herself or gotten from her father with warm hands. There was a man in Mapanja who owed me some money for rubber, only about three of four Croo and he didn’t pay me so at last I took him to court down by King Mossasso, and then he appeared before the court with three baskets of rubber and paid the debt, but the remainder the court took, for settling the palaver, and besides the king told him that he was a fool who tried to cheat the white man. For the spreading about of foul slander there is a punishment, in form of paying heavy fines to the man who has been scandalized.11 War or fights are not very common among the Bakweri but when these cannot be settled peacefully then there is a certain agreement made between the whole Bakweri tribe, that fire arms are not allowed to be used in war, again only cutlasses, swords and stones which they throw with very great skill. Sometimes in these fights, a few are killed. When we were in Mapanja the 7/10/1884, a certain brave man by name Letongo was wounded by the Mokunda people. During the fight he had received ten very

RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE BAKWERI AND BOMBOKO

115

bad wounds of which three were very serious, and L. died from a fractured skull on the 10/10/1894. The funeral was one of the most elaborate I have seen at Mapanja for many years. It was very interesting to be present and note the ceremonies on the day of the funeral. All the women of the town were gathered together, crying, weeping and deploring the fate of the bravest man among the Bakweri. On a small bench outside the house lay the body of the dead man covered with expensive and fine cloth, and near him stood his relatives calling his name. Soon deputations from six different Bakweri towns arrived, carrying fine polished flint guns and spears. I consider all the armed men present to be about three hundred. The grave, which was four feet deep, was dug across from his house and when the same was ready the king of Mapanja, Mossasso, held a speech in which he praised the brave Letongo who was dead, but said that he should never die in the memory of his people, who now mourned their bravest and best man. Afterward a young goat was killed and put under Letongo’s head, and two large male goats were killed by the king of Bwassa. The sister of the deceased went down in the grave and it was only with difficulty that some men could prevail upon her to leave the deceased.

The Bakweri at Home The Bakweri rise about six o’clock in the morning and then they drink some water and rinse their mouth and teeth which are very white and strong. Then they go to work and about eleven o’clock or twelve o’clock they get their dinner, which very often only consists of a few plantains, or yams roasted on the glows of the fire, or some boiled coco[yams], a kind of a potato, and some sweet potatoes. From one o’clock till about three o’clock they rest, smoke, and chat during the hottest season. They eat supper about six o’clock. By cooking the food with palmoil and pepper they get a dish which they call palmoilchop, which is very much liked by the natives of Guinea and the white men are also very fond of the same. Musu, a certain kind of food made from stamped [pounded] cocos called makao by the natives, and fofo made of ripe plantains which are both very much liked by the Bakweri. Inside the house they have a fireplace around which the natives sit while they eat. The sleeping places are near the fire. Their bed consists of a hard piece of wood, roughly hewn direct from the stem of a tree. Some kings and chiefs sleep in separate rooms and, as many of them have ten or twenty wives, they own several houses. I have always admired the black women, who could keep so well together although they were bound to live in the same house and were competing over the love of the husband. In Soppo I saw the children from four different mothers who were all the best of friends and the mothers treated all the children as their own. I was astonished to see the way in which this large family understood to keep peace and happiness in their home life. In the houses of the Bakweri, goats, sheep, pigs and dogs also sleep in the most friendly way together with the natives. I have seen children use small pigs instead of pillows and both have slept very well and seemed to be accustomed to do so. I may say that the Bakundu and Ekumbi used to have sepa-

116

KNUT KNUTSON

rate houses for the cattle, and kept their own houses very much cleaner than the Bakweri and Bomboko. The kitchen utensils and furniture are of the rudest and most simple I have seen. Some few clay pots, a small water scoop, a few dishes and basins made of wood, or the calebass [calabash] pumpkin. The furniture consists of some short ends of square heron logs [sic – hewn logs?], which are used instead of chairs, a table about twenty inches high, one foot wide and two feet long. Bamboo sticks are used to eat with instead of knives and forks, these are about eight inches long and about three millimeters in diameter. They are not very fond of soup but when they have such, they drink the same from the bowl; however they have a wooden spoon and this they serve with. I believe the reason why the Bakweri have so primitive furniture and stand behind the other tribes in regard to smithery [smithing], wood-carving, painting and weaving is because this people and also the Bomboko have lived apart from the other people on the main land since the Cameroon Mountains, about threehundred years ago, was an island.12 The fire burns throughout the night in these people’s houses thus preventing the damp air to spoil the people and the house, and the reason why so many white men died, the black men say, was because they did not have fire in their bedrooms to protect the same from dampness and mosquitoes. There is no doubt that this theory is correct. I am quite sure that the fire we always kept when living up the mountains, saved us from fever and rheumatism. The most common sickness was fever, and the natives always said that if there were ‘plenty mosquitoes, plenty fever’. They were as a rule very afraid of a stygomaia, a fly something like the horsefly, and very poisonous. They were also very frightened of a big mosquito, which they declared transmitted the very painful boil-sickness which many were afflicted with [tombo fly?]. I got this sickness after a hunting trip to N’Binga and for three months I suffered exceedingly and could not walk. However an old man in Mapanja cooked a medicine of some green leaves and washed my legs with it. There were about thirty boils below the knees. I shall never forget the first time he washed the legs, it was really as if he had taken a red hot iron and put it on the wounds. When I cried the doctor said, ‘Well now the sickness is beginning to leave you. It’s not you who is crying, it is one of Mokasse’s bad assistants who is crying because he must leave your body.’ I am glad to say that the old man cured me fully and after two weeks I was able to walk again. Many times the Bakweri neglect their wounds and do not go to the doctor before infection sets in, and then it is very difficult for the doctor to cure them. Thus many of them become cripples or die of blood poison. The Bakweri were very skilful in curing wounds received from shot, and I dare say they stood in this regard far ahead of the white men that I will mention below – a case from a hunting trip in Bakingille 1884. In September 1884 I went together with Molla Mosingi and N’jia to hunt in the forest near Bakingille where we stopped in the king’s house. Shortly before we should leave the Bakingi town, an accident happened through the carelessness of Molla Mosingi. A shot was heard and the bullet passed through N’jia’s left shoulder-blade and went out very near the first vertebra. I thought at first that the man should die, but he began to talk and insisted upon that we should immediately return to Mapanja, where he was sure

RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE BAKWERI AND BOMBOKO

117

the old man, before mentioned, would soon cure him. I could not believe that the man would be able to walk the long and steep distance from Batoki to Mapanja. We got a canoe at Batoki and from here we started our journey which I shall never forget. I sent a messenger at once who should go before us to Mapanja and report the matter to the king and the relatives of the wounded man. Molla Mosingi was very afraid that the man should die, and that would have caused him a great deal of trouble. Molla’s father, called ‘Beggar King Mosingi’, because he always begged tobacco, must pay a good deal of money for his son Molla’s carelessness. His family would have been ruined and it could also have happened that the relatives of the wounded man had insisted that Molla Mosingi should have been killed. I was very sorry for him and also for my own sake, because the accident happened when they were in my service. However we reached Mapanja and the old doctor began to treat the wounded man and told me that as far as he could judge at present, he would recover. He treated him in the following manner. He sterilized a small syringe made of calebass [calabash], washed his hands in lemon juice and took a knife which he heated over the fire and cut two or three lemons with it and squeezed the juice into the syringe and let the same pass through the canal of the wound. The native doctor, who was no witchman, took two small pieces from the branch of a tree, being of the same diameter as that of the wound, pulled out the pith inside and thus he had two small tubes which were placed one on each end of the wound, which was kept open with a small piece of the lemon fruit put in both ends of the tubes. After two or three days the doctor used to remove the bandages which consisted of some cooked and dried fibres. He washed the wound carefully and took a fresh sterilized stick which he used as a probe to sound the inside wound canal. He informed us that the principal point was to keep the wound canal open and that the healing process should begin from the inside. In the course of twenty days the man was well again, but it was difficult for him to move the left arm and hand. I have described for some of our Swedish doctors the above mentioned way in which the old doctor in Mapanja treated his patient, and they admired the old man, who no doubt, already in the year 1884, was quite ahead of the modern medical West European science, and added that lemon juice is known as one of the best natural preventives and healers. The doctor seemed to be very anxious about their own theory of cognition and he made me promise not to teach the people in the town what he had shown me. In Mapanja, he said, there were only three persons who understood how to cure a sick man. He was very good, he said, for skin diseases and wounds, but he had no knowledge about the heart, head, chest, lungs and sexual diseases. He told me that he knew of at least sixty different kinds of skin diseases for which he had remedies, but some were incurable and if so, he used to tell his patients the truth. He said that, ‘All skin diseases came from the insects which are very injurious.’ For fever, I know he used a kind of medicine also cooked from the bark of a tree. When I was up in Bibundi I tried the same but without success. In most events I believe that internal medicine out here, as well as in Sweden, is with few exceptions not very much to depend upon. Quinine, Epsom salt, chlorodyne, a small glass of Cognac used as medicine, is what I have use for.

118

KNUT KNUTSON

Many times the witchman is also a medicine man or doctor, but he is not to be recommended, because these men are a bad lot. The charges made by the doctor were very moderate, sometimes a chicken, a small pig, a few yards of cloth, and if the patient was very rich, a goat. The science of medicine and the knowledge of medical plants were learned from the doctors, usually the uncle or cousin of the young medical students. It took a long time to learn all the different sicknesses and the methods of curing the same. They must also have a knowledge of the numerous plants which sometimes only could be distinguished by old skilful doctors. Some of the medical plants had to be collected high upon the mountains, such as the Genista which grew there in abundance. The old doctors were considered to be much superior to the young ones, just as here at home. Of course, there is no doubt about the question that we West Europeans are far ahead in regard to hygiene etc., compared with these tribes who are very dirty and uneducated, but I just wished to show how the old doctor at Mapanja treated and healed wounds, which proves that the doctors of the natives know much more than the people do. There is also no doubt that the general knowledge of medical plants and the curing methods, according to the statements of several of the kings and chiefs, have been on the decline during the last years. An old man in Boando told me that formerly, a very long time ago, ten men at the time went up the mountains where they collected medical plants which they dried in baskets over the fire in the hunting huts and brought them down to be mixed and sold as medicine. Some of the plants were sold and were presumed to give one man a special strength and also said to be a love potion, which men used to give girls for whom they had strong feelings. With regard to love among the Bakweri, some authors state that such feelings seldom exist, but I should say that these people are just as capable of loving as we are. Many times a young man falls in love with a girl and if necessary sells all his possessions in order to buy and marry her, and sometimes it happens that couples elope, but this is very risky. I know many cases but will only refer to the photo of Bambe and Efforsie [=Efosi13], a very happy newly married couple [regrettably not available]. If a woman has borne a child before she is officially married to the man who bought her, it makes no difference. On the contrary, quite an honour, and the husband is very proud and glad to know that there are fair prospects for more children. If the illegitimate child is a girl, then the engaged man is considered to have made a brilliant speculation. If some man should want to buy the bride from him the price of her would be twice as much as before. But if the man had really fallen in love with the bride, he would pay as much as he possibly could procure. I must say that the moral conduct of the Bakweri was much better than that of the whites. The Bakweri are very fond of music and song, and when we went up the mountains the hunters used to bring with them a small instrument which composed of a bow and string, the latter was touched lightly with a Bamboo pin and kept between the teeth so that the mouth became a living soundboard and marvellous tones were produced from this simple instrument. Thus they sang songs of a very melancholy nature which were accompanied by this very strange music. The drums were of different constructions. Some are covered with skin fitted over a hollow round tree stem and beaten with the hands. Others are made of hollow tree stems

RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE BAKWERI AND BOMBOKO

119

which are of different sizes and beaten with some hard wooden pins. The sound of the last mentioned drum is heard one and two kilometres, and sometimes when the wind and air are suitable it can be heard at a distance of from three to four English miles. With this kind of telegraphic system the Dualla people sent news when the German Men-of-War bombarded Dualla in December 1884, so that we knew it already, five and six hours afterward, up the mountains. The natives up the North Coast, at Batakka [Bateka?] had also through the drum-telegraph been informed of the German invasion at Cameroon. The people of the Banokko invasion have never been fond of human flesh. It has been declared by the Bakweri, Duallas, Isubu, and Bomboko that none of the people of the Banokko invasion have been fond of human flesh with the exception of the N’golos who had learnt this horrible fashion of the Batom people. The N’golos used to fatten slaves with ripe bananas and plantains who were killed and eaten at religious festivals. These slaves seemed to bear their fate with great resignation, they were so fat that they looked more like fat pigs than human beings. I do not think that there was any tribe so near the seaside as the N’golos, who still were man-eaters as late as 1895. N’golo men very often had filed teeth, and several times I noticed that they brought down with them, to the N’dian factory, some smoked pieces of human flesh from the calf of the leg. I told them of their bestial habit, but they answered that they like human flesh and would not give up this custom because the white men had formerly bought a lot of slaves from this place and it was said that they ate the same when they arrived to the white man’s country. I had difficulty in persuading them to believe that the white men did not eat human flesh. However they said that they would give up this custom as soon as the white men settled in the interior of their country. Thus we note that the white race was not very high in the minds of the anthropophagis. In 1895 Mr. Waldau brought down about one hundred Batanga-men with rubber and ivory for which they bought cloth and other goods. Mr. Waldau sent them back but on their way home they were attacked and nearly all were killed and eaten up by the N’golos. Afterwards an expedition was sent out to punish the anthropophagis and many N’Golos were killed by the Germans. This case is the only one where the Germans had a true reason to fight the natives. I am sure that if a missionary had been established among the N’golos, they would not have killed the men and eaten them as they did. Once I spoke with a king of the N’golos who was at N’dian to settle some palaver, and offered him a very great payment if he would desist from his anthropophagy, but he answered that the old men had decided not to do so, because the traditional history of their tribe said that when the N’golos had ceased to practise this custom they would soon be extirpated [extinct]. There was a time in Bibundi during September 1888 when the fish seemed to have disappeared from the bay. Day after day the fishermen went out in their canoes, but always returned without a catch. When this had continued for about three weeks the king and the people decided to call a witchman who made a speciality of bringing fish to the coast. The witchman came after a few days and began his work immediately. He ran up and down the sandbeach opposite the factory as if haunted by a ghost, shouting about N’jama ba Mallua [Bak.: Nyama ja

120

KNUT KNUTSON

maliva] – ‘The beef [meat] in the water,’ which he begged to return. He threw some stones and small sticks in the water and spoke a great deal about the wicked sea spirits (Edimos), who had been troubling the water for such a long time, so that the fish had become frightened and had gone over to Ihleon Ohlifeh coast. At last he ran out in the sea surf, shouting and gesticulating with his arms. I went over to the beach and asked him how business was and at what time he expected the arrival of the fish. I gave him a few leaves of tobacco, and began to talk to him, perhaps in a little superior tone, about the foolish way in which he worked. He laughed and said to me in the Bakweri language, ‘You white men have many customs which to us black men seem very strange and very foolish too.’ ‘What do you mean?’ I said, taking offence at his words. ‘Please tell me some of our strange customs’. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘some white men swear and use very bad words and many times call daily upon the devil to catch them. They swear in English, German and Swedish, asking their Mokasse to come and take them. Would you, Mr. Knutson, kindly tell me if you at any time have heard a Bomboko or Bakweri man swear and call upon Mokasse to come and take him?’ I answered immediately, ‘No I must admit that you are right, you black men are better than we white men in this respect.’ He came up to me, caught my hand and shook it vigorously and repeatedly, but he did not say a word. This, his silent way of treating a man whom he had convinced, showed a natural fine conduct which you very seldom find among the white race. He worked for three days but no fish came inside the bay, so he decided that a sacrifice must be made and the same should be arranged on the sacrificial stone lying near my house by the Bibundi beach. The witchman was a very respectable man and the only witchman with whom, I sympathized. He said to me that he had suggested to the people that I, who was a good friend of the Bibundi people, should be allowed to be present when the ceremony took place. There was a small stone lying near the beach, overgrown with grass, where formerly many times cows, goats and fowl had been sacrificed, but now such ceremonies took place very seldom. This time was the first and only one that I saw such a ceremony during my stay in Africa. Early in the morning the most prominent members of the Ekalé society, about twenty persons came down to the beach. The oldest man of the lot carried in his hand a fowl, and the men took place around the sacrificial stone and began to sing a song, which dealt with the bad sea-spirit who had entered the bay and river Bekongolo and driven the fish away. The population of Bibundi had now nothing to buy food with, they were paddling about the sea for fish day and night, but there was no fish to catch. They knew that when their forefathers had met such hard times, they used to go to the sacrificial stone and sing their old song and kill a fowl. ‘Now we come, members of our religious society,’ the old man said, ‘and we hope that the blood of this fowl, which by the priest/(witchman) has been declared to be holy, will have the greater power to drive out evil spirits from the bay and the river and that the fish may return to the Coast and river again.’ Then he killed the fowl and let the blood drop down on the altar as a sign of their wishes and trusted now to have conquered the evil spirits. After this ceremony I invited King Befongo and the witchman to have a cup of tea and eat some roasted ripe plantains and discussed about the sacrificial stone. I

RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE BAKWERI AND BOMBOKO

121

asked them if there were any other such stones in Bibundi. They answered ‘No’. ‘Since how long a time have you sacrificed on this stone?’ I asked. ‘Well’, the king and the witchman said, ‘It’s a very long time since the first Banokko people came here and held their meetings.’ I told them that I believed the fish would come inside the bay tomorrow because the wind was blowing to the Coast now and there was not such a heavy storm as before. They both said that they were of the same opinion, and that they would have plenty of fish during the latter part of the week. ‘Well’ I said, ‘I think I could become a clever witchman by and by.’ King Befongo and the witchman laughed very heartily and said, ‘that I soon understood the business.’ They admitted that they built the whole plan of making fish on the direction of the wind and the weather. Two days afterward all fishermen came home with their canoes full of fish. Befongo told me that the town had to pay the witchman one goat, a small hog, a fowl, a new singlet, cap and a fathom of good cloth for his trouble. Among the Bakweri a dead man is buried in his own house. As soon as he dies they take a black or brown handkerchief which is tied around the head to prevent the lower jaw from being impressed, which is considered to be a very bad sign. Very strange that here in Sweden the same opinion prevails. The Bakweri said that this was a sign that he had fought with Mokasse and that he had been unable to avoid him as he ought to have done. The dead body is dressed in cloth and very often a grave is dug in the house. All the nearest relatives of the dead man are invited to the house of mourning where they show their feelings by firing guns and high shrieks. They used to put a cutlass or spear and some other few things with the dead body in the grave and at the same time they also buried two or sometimes three goats. When old King William at Bibumbia [Bimbia] was buried, it was said that two of his slaves were buried alive at the same time as their master. The Bakweri men and women used to smear their bodies with some ochre and palmoil and every evening for about four or six weeks they cried threnodies [laments] about the dead, thus expressing their sorrow. The men very often cut their hair on the left side of their heads and the women wore only a certain kind of bast sash around the waist.The time of mourning is generally from three to twelve months, depending upon the nearness of relationship. A mother is considered to be nearer than a father and then sisters and brothers, the mother’s sisters and brothers, the father’s sisters and brothers, and then cousins who are also considered to be closely related. Nearly every evening while in Mapanja, I heard a man crying threnodies about half an hour from half-past five till six o’clock and he always repeated the same story but every day with new words. He said that his house was desolate and it was very lonely since his wife so tender and true had left him alone, he had now nobody who understood him fully, he had to fetch his firewood, cocos (jimmi) and plantains. He had now to cook his own food and take care of the small children. He heard so well his wife’s steps on the path by their hut, but she did not come. Now that he was left alone he would not be happy again. I consider this custom to be one of the best which I noticed among the Bakweri. Heavy rain or thunder would not prevent the man to give his thankful recognition of all his dead wife’s merits and he also admitted freely that he had not always treated her as he ought

KNUT KNUTSON

122

to have done during the time she lived. This poetical act shows that the man must have been very happy in his connubial life. If the father and mother are both dead and have left small children the brother and the mother or the father used to take care of the children and together with some old trustworthy men looked after them. The goods which the parents left after them would be disposed of by the guardian, and the other relatives have to keep a very close account of the property belonging to the children, who consider this guardian as their father and must help him on the farm or fishing. The guardian manages the children’s goods as well as he is able but if he should make any losses for them he would many times have to pay for it. I remember once in Bullikova when I passed that place in 1884 on my way to Binga [Bwenga], I stayed with a man at whose house several people had met to discuss some palaver. There were a lot of men talking about goats, powder, guns, etc., and the man who had to pay his nephews and nieces was not very willing to do so, but he was forced although he protested. It was wonderful how they kept account. There were three strings of sammana, a black and white bead liked very much by the Bakweri, which their uncle had smuggled away and presented to his own wife who kept them in her box. However they were returned after strong protests from the children and some of the friends of their dead parents who assisted them very energetically. I believe that in many events the customs and the laws of the natives are more suited to help the children to obtain their rights than the lawyers and many different law paragraphs have the power to do here in Europe. I enjoyed the song of the Bakweri and Bomboko very much and I shall never forget how I spent a whole night in the most beautiful moonlight hearing their improvised poetical and tender songs which corresponded so very well with the pale light of the moon, which cast its rays against the green borders of the mangrove forest. I was on my way from Ekundu to N’dian. The night was cool and calm, a wonderful night and one of the young Batoki boys always used to sing before the others: Jangamanne jangamanne dao landome jokka mindo moto jonha manna. [Bak.: Jangamene jangamene lonwa landome joka mwindo moto jona mwane – Beware, beware how you kill the shark...?]

They also improvised a song about all the different places which they had visited while in Mr. Waldau’s and my company. They always gave prominence to the love that they had for their own town and how happy they would once be when they had earned a good deal of money in our service and thus be enabled to travel back home to spend holidays. How the girls would look at them when they came dressed in fine cloth and singlets. What pleased looks their parents would give them when their good boys came home with presents for them and their sisters. I may say that I have more interest in their songs than I have for our own. In their songs the natural feelings are expressed in a few words and with a certain power. Further they sang about themselves, about Somba, the headman of the canoe, [Samson in Figure 13?] who had been with the white Swedes such a long time that he could not leave his masters and friends. They sang about former times when Batoki was one of the largest towns, where the people were very happy and

RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE BAKWERI AND BOMBOKO

123

used to dance and sing night and day. They displayed by their song the brave men who had long ago offered their lives for their town, during the war. They also sang when we passed a house or town, with a direct address to the people living there, wishing them good sleep or good morning, telling them who we were and that they were following me with the peaceful intention of carrying me and my merchandise up the river. That a good piece of fish or some bunches of plantains would suit the crew of the canoe very well and that they were very tired from pulling such a far distance etc. They do not beg but only make a proposal in their usual friendly way. They sang to the people that they must consider that, through the work of their hands they now got many fine things which they could buy. Thus the song of the natives of the Cameroons …[?], just like some of our old national songs, are much more natural than the songs of the new West European culture, which are only a nice verbal form thrown against the rocks of the old true human culture.

Editor’s Notes 1. Writing in 1990 Dan Matute (p.189), gives three aspects of God, more properly ‘sky’ – Love (the four letters all being pronounced), Maek’a Love (the creative aspect) Ovas’ a Love (the encompassing aspect) and Iwond’a Love, which he links with ‘to create or to gorge’. See also Ardener, E.W. 1956: 92, 94. Neither Ardener nor Matute link the term Mokasse with Ovasse. 2. (Bak: Mo jana wa liemba = One who brings witchcraft). For witchcraft (liemba) see Matute 1990: 193–6, and Ardener, E.W. 1956: 104–106. For a discussion of a special form, nyongo, see Matute 1990: 196, and the analytical article by Ardener, E.W., 1970, reprinted in Ardener 1996. 3. For an account of liengu among the Bakweri see Ittmann 1953, the article by Ardener, E.W. 1972, reprinted 1975 and 1989, and shorter references in Ardener 1956 and Matute 1990: 181–7. 4. Meaning in secret, among two people? 5. A common medicine of the times (and since) derived from the root of a small shrubby South American plant which has emetic properties. The term, or its abbreviation ipecac, is sometimes applied to other roots with similar properties. Used this century in Europe for whooping cough, and the like. 6. Could this be the school founded by George Thomson (see Part IV, 4)? 7. For an illustrated account of the grand dance of the Bakweri Male society see E.W. Ardener 1959, reprinted in Ardener 1996, and the forthcoming studies by Joachim von Steiglitz. The final vowel of Male is pronounced; this term does not refer to men, though this is a men’s society. 8. I was taken once, with Edwin, to see a farm trampled the night before, said to be by the elephant doubles of senior members of the Male society. It was the night before the big dance. Fortunately they had shown discrimination, in attacking a farm which was not in crops, and looked fallow or abandoned. 9. As chief Liwonjo’s son does today.

124

KNUT KNUTSON

10. See E.W. Ardener 1972, reprinted in S.G. Ardener 1975 with a postscript, and briefer references in Ardener, E.W. 1956 and Matute 1990: 186–7. 11. For a comparison with fines levied for ‘defamation of character’ by nearby Bonjongo Court in the 1950s see court records referred to in S.G. Ardener 1975. 12. Pure speculation, which needs further research. 13. The name by which this editor happens to be known by many Bakweri: Efos’a Ngove. Called thus by an elderly lady who lived in Bonjongo, the name gained wider circulation. Ngovo’s grandson addressed me as ndome (=sibling of the opposite sex); regretfully he died prematurely. I include this detail as friends are sometimes curious as to how I got this name.

CHAPTER 9

The Slave Trade

The trade in slaves is of a very old date, as every one may know.1 According to the Bible and from the ancient Greek and Latin authors, during the old times this traffic was not worked on such a large scale and in such a cruel way as later on when the people ought to have been more civilized. We can trace that slaves were carried from Africa over the straits of Gibraltar to Spain and Portugal by the Moors in the beginning of the 12th century. The slave trade was therefore not unfamiliar to these people and they were also the pioneers working this horrid trade forward. One of the first men who brought slaves from the West coast of Africa by vessel was a certain Antonio Gonzales, who sailed from Rio d’Ouro, in the year 1442 and carried with him ten natives who were sold in Portugal. Prince Henry the Navigator was said to have brought several lots of slaves from the West Coast of Africa, and in 1448 a Portuguese Company which had a factory at the Bay of Arguin sold a shipload of two hundred slaves in Portugal. The same year Sierra Leone was discovered by Diniz Diaz, and after that date, the West Coast of Africa was opened for the horrid and shameless slave traffic. It was a custom of the kings and princes of the European Powers to keep black servants. This habit caused the demand for slaves to be greater every year. So the noblemen would imitate the kings and princes, and the trade began to increase more and more. There is no doubt that the slaves, during the first hundred years that this trade existed, were better treated than later on. As the black men proved to be very useful servants and considered trustworthy, the demand was largely increased. Already, at the end of the 14th century and the beginning of the 15th, a constant slave market with auctions was held in Lisbon. The Portuguese people discovered Fernando Po in 1471.2 It was a Portuguese nobleman, Fernan Gomez from Po, who started from Portugal in 1469 and arrived so far as to the above mentioned island, which he called Formosa. At the same time he discovered the Cameroon river, which he called after the Portuguese word, camerõa,3 which translated from Portuguese, = crab [rather, a prawn-like crustacean]. Rio des Camerones = Crab river. The name is owing to the abundance of crabs at the banks of the river. Further, Rio del Rey, that is in the Portuguese lan-

126

KNUT KNUTSON

guage, King’s River, [owes its name] to the wide mouth of the same. Some few years afterwards the whole West Coast of Africa was discovered and explored by the Portuguese. As soon as America and the West Indies were discovered there was quite a rush to these countries, mostly by Portuguese and Spanish adventurers. Neither the ancient race in America, the Indians and the West Indians nor the Portuguese, Spaniards or Frenchmen liked to work in the farms in America and, having scarcity of labour for the same, the slaves proved to be very useful workers in the plantations. The slaves were, up to the middle of the 15th century, carried from Senegal and Sherbro rivers to Lisbon, but after that time the Portuguese began to ship cargoes of slaves direct to America and the West Indies. However, some authors have pointed out that Sir John Hawkins, Senior, [must] have been the first who brought a cargo of slaves from Sierra Leone to America. I do not think that this statement is correct, because the slave market in Lisbon had already, in the middle of the 15th century, lost a great deal of importance, and the slaves had already, about 1520, been sent direct to the West Indies. The Pope in Rome very often made it difficult for the Powers to gain licences for carrying slaves, but a licence was only a matter of money and was granted to anyone who had sufficient means to pay the Pope policy [sic] and sometimes His Holiness declared it to be a very useful and Godly act to catch slaves and convert the same for the Roman Catholic church and teach them farming work in the West Indies. The Portuguese and Spaniards were the first slave dealers on the West Coast of Africa, but now also the other Nations would have their ‘place in the sun’, and soon we will find the Dutch, English and French and Danish nations competing favourably with the two first named nations. The discovery of America much increased the slave trade. For the first cultivation of the West Indies and the Southern States of America we have to thank the West African slaves. No doubt there is nothing bad which does not carry something good with it and so it was even with the case here, America’s South Coast and the West Indian Islands were cultivated. But how much had the poor African natives not suffered during the hard work in which they were cruelly treated by their owners and masters? In the 16th century the slave trade had begun to be more important and about 25–40,000 slaves were considered to be carried yearly from the West Coast of Africa to America. I believe this number rather low. The Portuguese, Dutch, French, English, Spanish and Danish nations did the largest trade in the beginning of the 16th century, but in the end of said century Portugal, England and Holland were in the front keeping many ships in the trade. During the 17th century the Americans, together with the Portuguese, kept the greatest number of slave-vessels. They had divided up the West Coast from Senegal to Congo in several districts and the Portuguese did nearly the whole slave trade in the Congo and Angola alone. In Senegal the French people seemed to have done the largest share of the trade, and had some factories on the shore of the river Senegal, but they could not prevent sailing vessels of other nationalities from trading from the roadstead on the sea. The Dutch people had taken the Gold Coast

THE SLAVE TRADE

127

from the Portuguese and put up a factory in Elmina, in the first year of the 16th century. On the Gold coast there were several nations trading from the anchoring vessels.The Benin and Old Calabar were known as the richest slave markets on the Guinea Coast, except the Congo and St. Poolo Loanda [sic]. South of Old Calabar is the river Rio del Rey. In fact Rio del Rey is no river but an estuary into which the two rivers N’dian and Massake flow out. Eastward from Rio del Rey we have the small river Meme and further down south by the Cameroon Mountain the small river Oonge and Bekongolo. The Cameroon Mountains called Alta Sierra de Amboses were very well known and described by the old authors. I shall now begin to draw up an account of the way in which the slave trade was carried on during the 16th–17th century in the mentioned district. I may add that I have been very interested in studies regarding the former slave trade and during my stay in the Cameroons I came in contact with many of the old kings who could relate about the slave trade from their grandfathers’ and ancestors’ olden times. Besides that, I also have carefully gone through as many literary works as it has been possible to obtain here in Sweden which have touched on the slave trade.With regards to the same, I wish to mention that the Cameroon territory in the 16th and 17th century was divided in[to] three different slave-districts, each district got the slaves only through the hands of the King of Biaffra who was the only king here: 1 Rio del Rey District, where Colle people, Amboses, Isangille people used to trade. 2 Ambas and Rio Pequenos, where the Amboses and Isubu people traded. 3 Rio Cameroones [sic], where the Duallas, Isubu and Amboses did the middleman trade for the Biaffra king. The old kings in the place where I lived joined themselves in the concordant expression that the ‘slave trade was the worst of all things which brought the people misfortune’. I remember a king down at Cameroon, from a place Maomo [Maumu?] who was said in the whole of his life never to have received a white man, and that owing to the former shameful slave trade. I may say I found the character of this man very fine and his views on things logical. The slave trade has ever been a shame which we white men must deeply deplore, and only the people that have followed the same carefully will be able to judge this matter as it ought to be done. Not many of the men now living know very much of the slave trade and would perhaps not care for old stories, but I consider it as my duty to give some account of what the old kings told me regarding the slave time, which no doubt will give a point of view of the past culture. At Rio del Rey near Oron there was a beach where there was formerly a barracks for the slaves in which they were stored waiting for shipment. The old King Attokkoro of Oron told me that he never could pass this place in the night time without being afraid of it. ‘The natives’, he said, ‘could sometimes hear in the middle of the night how the ghosts were bawlling and squalling and how the old Slave Captain, Don Antonio, and his wife were swearing and cursing at the poor slaves, when they were loaded in the boats, and the rattle of iron chains when they were passing over the bridge down inside the boats.’ What have this people not had to suffer, poor men and women!

128

KNUT KNUTSON

When a slave ship was reported to have been seen before the bar of the river Rio del Rey, the king at Oron and Amotto and also the present Colle people had all their big drums beaten and sent their canoes out to the bar of the river to get any news about which nationality the coming ship belonged to, and if the same was entitled to pass the bar. The same night very great festivities and dancing plays were held in the native towns. The ship sailed up the river, dropped anchor at the usual place, and the captain received the kings from the different tribes such as Collebungos, Issangille and Amboses. The captain paid his coomees [=taxes] for passing the bar and gave the kings their usual coomees and dashes of Genever [=gin] and king cloth. The kings afterwards presented the captain with a few goats or a small bullock and then returned to their towns where very intensive drinking orgies took place during the whole night. The next morning the kings returned to the ship to see the captain and speak some trading palaver about the number of the slaves who could be procured at a short notice. If the Biaffra king had a slave cargo ready, the captain might be able to sail very quickly, but that was not so often the case, because many ships called at Rio del Rey for that purpose. Formerly there were on the beach near Oron two big barracks, which I have mentioned before, where 1,000 slaves would have been kept in stock for supplying the ships. The Collebunges, Amboses and Issangille people had a certain commission for shipping the slaves and the payment for the same was received of the representatives by the king of Biaffra. The trade must have been on an immense scale and King Attokkoro said that the Portuguese and Dutchmen were the people who did the largest trade in the Rio del Rey. Sometimes five and six vessels could lie anchored in the river at the same time, but since 100 years ago it had lost much of the wealth. The slaves all came from the interior and were brought down by armed expeditions and most of them were prisoners or other men who had been caught by the Biafframanni. The poor slaves were chained together one by the other by a strong collar made of twined raphia fibre and fixed through strong leather straps from one slave to another. Every slave had on the right wrist a handcuff fixed to a piece of ebony or ivory, and so heavy that the poor man could not manage to carry the same without putting over the left bent arm. So they had to walk – at a distance of about five-six feet from each other – and many times during weeks, down to Biaffra. The slave traders had different marks for their own slaves, some were marked by the ear, and some by tattooing on the inside of the arms, or a mark burnt on the leg. Every black slave wholesale merchant had his own trade marks, this to prevent the poor men from being mixed up with the ‘black ivories’ as the slave captain called them. From Rio del Rey was Mocos and Biaffra mark. It was horrid to hear how sometimes men and women unsuspiciously working in their farms were seized by the slave-raiders and carried down to the canoes, where they many times had to lie on the bottom of the same, during days and nights, sometimes for several days handcuffed and without shelter against sun and rain. Food and water was certainly scarce; it was no matter about a slave, only that he was in life when he arrived at the West Indies and could be favourably sold. The treatment from the black slave-raiders could not be expected to be a mild one. Many of the slaves were prisoners taken by war or slave raids. There were also

THE SLAVE TRADE

129

many others who through debt, stealing, witchcraft or adultery had lost their personal freedom and become slaves. When the slaves came down to Rio del Rey after having lain a very long time on the bottom of the canoe tied as to hands and feet, they had great difficulty in walking, and many times had to be carried into the barracks. In this house they were tied by heavy iron chains to a piece of timber which was stretched along the length of the barrack, and were placed like cattle in a cowhouse. If the old trees which grew by the slave-beach could have spoken I should have got many horrid tales about all the sufferings that the poor slaves had gone through. The King Attokkoro told me that during his grandfather’s time the English Government began to suppress the slave-trade and that only Portuguese vessels used to come there and that the same at full moon and high water went further up the creek, where the captain pulled down the upper part of the ship’s mast, so that the officers from the Men-of-War, when they arrived to search the river should not be able to find the hidden ship.There were several English Men-of-War lying in the Man-of-War Bay close to the place where Victoria now is situated. The ships had their station by this harbour. From that place they could easily watch the entrances of the Cameroons and Old Calabar rivers. However, it was a great difficulty to sail inside Rio del Rey, having so many sand banks and shallow water. So the Rio del Rey was one of the best rivers for the slave trade since [entry to] the same was forbidden by the English government. Very often the English Watch-ships had to sail down from Man-of-War Bay for Benin and Congo-rivers, and then at once messengers were sent from Amboses to the Colle people and the latter to the Rio del Rey people, that the Men-of-War now were sailed and the air clear. The Rio del Rey and Colle people now placed some flags on the high stick out on the bar as a sign for the slave dealers to know that now there was no risk to come inside the river. The slave trading vessels breaking the blockade were almost all Portuguese, American or French and used the pretext of coming here for hunting whales whereof still are a good many in this Bay. The captain of the slave ship very often brought with him his wife. The last ship which entered the river was when King Attokkoro was a boy in about 1845 and the same was lost at Batekka ba Malalle. Most of the slaves were rescued, but the captain and the white crew were killed near the mouth of the river Oonge. Dapper, Barbot and Bosman say in their works of 1668–1699–1705 [sic] about Rio del Rey as follows: The price for a slave was 13–14 bars of copper each weighing 22 lbs. the copper bar was the basis for the slave trade in Rio del Rey. Other articles were iron bars, flintguns, cloth, Neptune copper kettles, soap, oranges and lemon-pomade, knives, Genever [gin] and brandy. Also some different kinds of cloth, glasswares and powder. The trade was going on the following way: For a slave was paid 100–200 opos whereof 20 opo of copper-bars, not more, that is 2 copper-bar and the remaining 80 opo in the other goods as in soap, Flint-guns, cloth, brandy and so on.

The copper was formerly very dear and a big article for the African trade. I beg to mention the great value Sweden formerly had in the Coppermine at Falun. In fact the Swedish Government made the longest war, which any power hitherto has brought to a happy end, ‘the 30 Years War’, through their copper, which was sold

130

KNUT KNUTSON

to Amsterdam against Gold-dust from the Elmina, and Cape Coast. The greatest war we had was financed in this way. I am one of the first who has shown this interesting matter which I have gained from my researches in the Royal Swedish Archive here in Stockholm. Many times the captain of a slave ship had to wait a very long time before the slaves were brought down to the barracks in the Rio del Rey. But at last they came and he had a full cargo and began to prepare on board to receive ‘the black ivory’ – as these shameful captains use to call the poor black slaves. The day before the slaves were brought out of the barracks to be loaded, the king of the town used to give a big late dinner with a fancy ball for the captain and the mates of the ship. King Attokkoro told me what his forefathers had related him full details of. There were so horrid and shameless orgies going on at these festivities that it cannot be described or printed. I may only say that it shows a shocking depravation of the white men in the former days, and I have difficulty in believing it, but the slave dealers were no Christians, they were bestials. The embarkation of the slaves would have have been very sad. At such an occasion two big canoes were tied along-side the vessel and in each canoe many men were placed, who were beating big drums during the time the embarkment lasted. This was done to prohibit the cries of the poor slaves from being heard by their friends on the shore. For the slaves this day was the worst in their life. If it was the uncertain fate of their coming days, or that they believed in the evil report which had been whispered in their ears, that the white men would eat them when they arrived abroad, is difficult to decide. But a fact was, according to what King Attokkoro and King William Junior of Bimbia told me, that many poor slaves at the date of time, when the vessel left the river, went mad. King William Jr. told me that his grandfather informed him ‘that he would never be present when a slaveship sailed from Bimbia.’ His grandfather had further uttered that he had ‘once seen a vessel leave the river but he would never see that any more. My grandfather never was a drunkard’ he said, in his common English, ‘but the day before the slave ship sailed he used to drink too much, you see because he not fit to look them man him sorry faces.’ Those words of old King William’s show that although he was a bad slave trader he had certain feelings for the fate of the slaves and that he would kill his bad conscience by alcoholic drinks. King Attokkoro told me that, before leaving the creek when the anchor of the slave ship was heaved, the most fearful shrieks from several hundred throats were sent as a last farewell from the unfortunate black men, who now left a country where they once had been happy. Sometimes a slave returned to Rio del Rey having been made free. He also said that when sometimes the man was sold and bought as a slave on board the ship and his wife left, the latter, on the date of day when the slave ship sailed, jumped into the river. According to the tradition, it was a Portuguese captain who had many vessels running to Rio del Rey and his name was said to have been Don Antonio. He and his wife lived during the dry season at Oron but in the rainy season he went home. The King Attokkoro assured me that according to the tradition during the Biaffran time the vessels leaving Rio del Rey would at least have been not less than two a month and five or six vessels lying at anchor would have been an ordinary

THE SLAVE TRADE

131

rule. The Portuguese vessels loaded circa three hundred but the Dutch only one hundred slaves. A people that never took part in the slave trade as middle men, were the Bakweri up the Cameroon Mountain, and also the Boobees on the Fernando Po. ‘The slave trade’, said my old friend, a coloured man Sam William Brew in Victoria, ‘was the greatest shame in the world, and you white men ought to weep bitter tears of blood over all the misery you through the same brought to Africa.’ He had talked with many old men from Sierra Leone who had been exported as slaves to the West Indies. It must have been an awful situation amongst the natives. Nobody can wonder that the same still are so very suspicious against the white men. The celebrated philanthropist, K.B. Wadström who lived in Sierra Leone at the end of the 17th century and was working hard against the slavery, has drawn up many sketches of the slave trade. Mungo Park, the celebrated traveller has also through his book shown how terrible and cruel this trade was, and at last there was a cry from the civilized nations against the cruel and bad trade, and it was stopped. Denmark was the first of the nations that forbade the slave trade in the year 1792. America followed in 1794, England 1807, Spain 1830, Portugal 1836, France 1840, the Portuguese Possessions 1878, and Brazil 1888. Sweden and Norway have never taken active part in the slave trade, which we are to be proud of. The slave trade was still going on so late as in 18[56?] at Cape Lopez, where two factories belonging to some Portuguese firms, according to du Chailly, shipped several cargoes of slaves for Brazil. The last cargo of slaves would have been shipped from Cape Lopez in 1868. How many slaves could be considered to have been shipped from the West Coast of Africa? English sources say about 100,000 yearly at the end of the 17th century. I fancy this figure is much too low. I believe one hundred English slave ships were occupied in this trade at the above mentioned period and I presume that every ship made one yearly journey with three hundred slaves each. I reckon 30,000 slaves by English vessels; but I should think that Portugal and America had each about double the number of vessels in the trade, and that would make about 150,000 yearly. Holland, France, Spain and Denmark would at least have had two hundred cargoes together, which would make about 50,000–60,000 slaves. The whole number of slaves I fancy shipped from Africa yearly during 1700–1795 would have been about 200,000. All Nations owe thanks to the slaves for the work they did during several hundred years together with all suffering for the benefit of the white race. The Rio del Rey harbour lost its wealth through the collapse of the Biaffra Kingdom in about 1755–1760. Old Calabar and Cameroon were after that time the head shipping quarters for slaves from the Biaffra Bay. In the year 1767 there were six English slave-ships at the same time anchored in the Old Calabar river, of which four were from Bristol, which place was the home of many an ill-famed slave trader. At the said town the ships were fitted out with merchandise and provisions. For the mentioned moment there was some trouble in the Old Calabar river between the natives and the English captains on board the vessels. The names of the Bristol ships were, ‘Indian Queen’, ‘The Duke of York’, ‘Nancy,’ and ‘Unity.’ England had now (1767) taken the greatest part of the trade at Old Cal-

KNUT KNUTSON

132

abar, but the Portuguese and Dutch were still trading at Rio del Rey, Bimbia and the Cameroons. In the Congo and St. Paolo, Loanda was considered to be the largest shipping place for slaves on the West Coast of Africa. Here were mostly Portuguese and American vessels which were engaged in this traffic. An old coloured lady, Mrs. Collins Williams [sic], who was living on the Fernando Po, told me that her grandfather had been brought out as a slave from the Bonny side and he used to tell her when she was a little child about the terrible treatment the poor slaves had to suffer during the voyages to the West Indies. They had to stand the seasickness and very often shortness of food and fresh water, all of which were usual attributes to a homeward bound slave-vessel. The worst of all was the longing for home, from which the slaves very often pined away. Many times there were some slaves who refused to receive any food or water. ‘But on board the vessel’, she said, ‘the captain and the mates got a certain instrument, which was put between the teeth of the slaves, and with which his jaws were bent up, so that they could manage to give him some soup to drink and by such means keep him alive. The slave captain, of course, was afraid of making a loss when the slave died.’ The black men love their own country more than we white men do and for weeks after the departure they cried awfully, especially in the night. The above mentioned old lady told me that her grandfather often spoke about the fearful voyage and the great difficulty to breathe, when owing to stormy weather the hatchway was closed on the ship’s hold, where the slaves were chained. Sometimes a slave returned to Rio del Rey having been made free. When I visited Lagos in 1891 I met a very rich coloured American gentleman who had been up the Niger for the purpose of seeing the old place, where his grandfather’s father once upon a time had been living, and where he had been captured and made a slave, and afterwards brought to America. He had not been able to find the place where his forefathers lived, because some war up the Niger had wiped out the town. He told me, that although the slave trade had been a very bad system, he now, since he had been out on the very spot where his forefathers had lived, was glad that his grandfather’s father had been made a slave. Although it was a rich and fine country he had noted the low degree of civilization of the people then living there. He considered that he had it much better in the United States. He was glad to have seen the old country, but he would never settle there, and returned in contentment to America. I beg to mention three men who devoted their lives for the abolishment of slavery, namely, Thomas Clarkson, Eng., K.B. Wadström, Swede, Sir William Wilberforce, Eng., who lived in the end of the 1780–90 decade and were known as pioneers and philanthropists. They had to fight many hard battles before they won the game. I wish to give my readers a glimpse of the ‘slave raid’ as it used to be carried on: Burned by the rays of the glowing sun lies the dreary yellow plain and miserable slaves tied with iron chains around their necks, wearily trudge along for the Coast and the ships. They have been sold for copper rods, powder and cloth and are driven down to be shipped away to the West Indies. Through the primeval forest of the littoral, the slave drove is moving over the steep and dangerous mountain chain on the narrow and dark paths from which the seaward skerries at some places can be noted.

THE SLAVE TRADE

133

In the evening it was whispered among the slaves as to the prospects of being able to run away when night came. It was decided that a few of them should make a trial of escaping from the camp. They did so and were happy at the thought of becoming free men again. When opportunity was given they silently stole away into the darkness of the night. Early the following morning their flight was discovered and then all the slavewatchmen were called by horn signals. The greatest speed was necessary to begin the hunt for the fugitives, so they set off at once. The bloodhounds were uncoupled, they began to bark on the scent, and forward they went through the thorny thicket of bushes. At last some of the fugitives were recaptured and brought back to their masters. On their return the unfortunate beings were compelled to pay a heavy penalty for their flight.4

Now I wish to draw a veil over the passed, olden, slave-days and their fearful cruelties and all the sufferings of the Natives. When I as a young man went out to Africa, I believed that the time had changed altogether, but how astonished I was to notice and state the contrary fact, and I shall here give a survey of the treatment of the black people by some German Customs Officials and farmers during the years 1888–1895.

Editor’s Notes 1. Knutson’s historical survey of the overseas slave trade needs updating. Wirz (1972), Duffy’s A Question of Slavery (1967), Miers and Kopytoff (1977) are only a few examples of a wide range of literature. For studies of internal Cameroon slave trade see, for example, Chem-Langhëë 1995, Warnier 1995, Austen and Derrick 1999, Fomin and Ngoh 1998. 2. Probably in 1474. For a discussion and evaluation of contemporary accounts of early contact between Europe and the Cameroon Coast see Ardener, E.W. 1968, reprinted 1996. 3. The Portuguese term camarões, ‘prawns’, refers here to the migrations of a particular species of crayfish found in the estuary at Douala (Monod 1928: 177; see also Ardener, E.W. 1968, 1996 reprint p.30. Monod, a pioneer in this field of study, died in 1999. 4. This may be a quotation, or Knutson’s own fancy.

CHAPTER 10

Black and White

In the foregoing chapter I have described the terrible slave trade and how the same formerly was carried on in the Cameroon district, but now I shall relate the present day’s mimicry of slave trade. Still, during 1888–1893, the same trade flourished in Cameroon, where a German Company imported Contractados (people who were bound through ten years contract) from Little Popo, and used the same as working men in the cocoa-farms situated on the north slopes of Cameroon Mountains. The natives in the Cameroons were not willing to work in the German plantations because they had been treated so badly, and then the farmers had to try to get Krumen, but also these, who had heard of the harsh treatment committed by the German farmers, would not listen to the high salaries offered. I may say that the German traders with a few exceptions treated the natives and Krumen well. It was the German officials and the farmers who were so badly known around the whole of the West African Coast. I know for a fact that there was great opposition by the Basel Missionaries out in Cameroon against this mimicry of slave trade because the Contractados were really in the hands of the farmers and had much difficulty in getting their rights, especially so long as v. Puttkamer was Governor in Cameroon. You cannot wonder that, since the subordinate officials and farmers knew that they had a man like Governor v. Puttkamer as protector, they tried their utmost in pressing the most possible work from the poor black men whom an unkind fate had thrown into their hands. The officials and farmers could expect to be promoted to a higher position, or be recommended by the Governor v. Puttkamer with a special letter of introduction. Therefore they were very anxious to show the very good result of the work which they had done, in a short time and with so few men; as a result they were forced into the system. Below I will give you some terrible facts stating how a German custom official, specially protected by v. Puttkamer, perpetrated cruel outrages during 1895 against his poor black labourers in Rio del Rey. When I think of it my blood begins to boil and I feel quite uncomfortable when remembering this bad and cruel man.

136

KNUT KNUTSON

When the customs official came to Rio del Rey he had first [done the] same as we had done, namely to fill up a place and build a small house in the swamps and afterwards drive piles down into the mud and fill up enough space for a larger beach [from which to trade]. For this purpose he had eight black soldiers who did no work, and twelve Krumen who had to carry out the beach work and were treated in a very cruel and rough way. These men should every day bring a fixed amount of piles, each man a dozen. Every pile should have a length of about fifteen feet and be four or six inches in diameter. The first months of their work, as long as they could find the trees for piles across the seaside, was not so difficult, but when they had to carry the piles for a long distance down in canoes, they could not fulfil the daily delivery required and then the poor people were punished in a very severe manner. There were among the poor Krumen some who were old and were not able to work hard enough to complete the required amount. I may mention here, to show how well these Krumen kept together, that many times the stronger men who had accomplished their work gave a number of their piles to their older friends and took the hard blows instead of them, and told me that ‘we can better stand the flogging because we are younger and stronger than our old companions’. Would a white man have done so? I dare say no. In the evenings when the day’s work was finished and it was dark, I sat on my veranda smoking a pipe and resting in my chair ... I heard the Krumen returning from the bush and slowly and silently pulling their canoes against the current. I knew that the next morning the poor men had to suffer a severe punishment not having been able to complete their work, and they were singing the below-mentioned song which I made a note of: The Krumen Song Pull my boys, soon we reach Home for Customs beach. Massa he today no fit Give us plenty hit. 2. We have cut so many piles Glad we sing with joy and smiles Soon our year will finished be And we all are free. 3. Massa he be bad too much Never go to white man’s church. We be tied down for ground And get plenty flog all round.

When the Krumen came nearer to the custom-beach they used to sing the last verse in this song in pianissimo. 4. Now sing low My boys, so low. Look the lamp for Massa’s house, Quietly move your mouth.

BLACK AND WHITE

137

When I heard them singing the song and heard how the sound-waves of the same quietly and emotionally vibrated over the former Old Slave river, then I was thankful and glad to know that on the morrow the poor men would be spared a terrible ill-treatment. How many mornings was I not obliged to hear the awful cries from the poor victims, who were beaten with a hard hippopotamo whip by the chief’s nephew, his assistant. I wrote again to the chief and threatened him to report his cruelties to the governor v. Puttkamer but he did not care about answering, and my report was probably thrown into the wastebasket by v. Puttkamer. At last I spoke with my friend, missionary Bohner in Dualla and he promised me to do his best and I know that conditions were better afterwards. Early on a Sunday morning in February 1895 I was preparing to make a visit to my old friend King Attokkoro in Oron, when I heard unusually loud and terrible howls coming from the Custom-beach and it seemed to me that some exceptional things were going on down there. It must be someone being tortured to death. The cries were very loud and agitated me very much. I seized my Winchester rifle loaded with ten cartridges and went over to the Custom-beach. The black sergeant, chief of the soldiers in the custom service, forbade me to set my foot on the beach, but he whispered quietly to me, ‘My chief is bad.’ I pushed him aside and went into the yard where I found a poor Kruboy lying nearly half dead, tied to four piles which were driven into the ground. His hands and feet were locked by a chain fastened through a cramp in each pile, so the poor man couldn’t move himself. He was still crying awfully and when he saw me he cried, ‘Massa take your gun and kill me. It pains me too much, they have thrown salt on my sore back, kill me at once, Massa. I know you will do, Massa.’ There they stood before me, both the bestial terrible men, the senior and junior, and were shameless enough to ask how I dared take the liberty of coming to their beach. I did not answer them as I feared that my temper would overpower me. My thirty or forty Krumen had also come being awakened by the terrible howls; all held cutlasses and axes and I had great difficulty in keeping both my boys and the other men quiet. The two custom officials were now frightened and went inside their small house and holding their Mauser rifles they repeated their word that I at once should leave their beach. I told them that I would not go before I had examined the poor victim. I found his back in an awful state. The poor boy, what he suffered is beyond description. It looked like a raw, fresh-cut piece of meat and here and there some few black strips mingled with the red bloody mass showing that there had once been a black skin. I sent a boy for some carbolic acid and some linen and medicine and told my Accra-cooper (he was a little versed in that line) to look after and take good care of the abused boy. And I am glad to say that in the course of a month he was well enough to walk again, but could not manage to bend without great difficulty. Governor v. Puttkamer came to Rio del Rey a few days after this terrible act, in the German Gunboat and as usual half drunk. At once I asked him to see the still living specimen of his officials’ cruelty. The poor Kruboy was still very sick from the horrid teatment. To my complaints v. Puttkamer only answered, ‘It’s not so very bad as I expected. The niggers must be kept strictly.’

138

KNUT KNUTSON

But over all of us there is a God leading our steps, steering our ships and punishing some mean people already here.The punishment must come and this bad man got his here. Shortly afterwards my Kruman, Samson, told me that the custom official could be sure of being poisoned by his black laborers. His Krumen had uttered to Samson after the last terrible ill-treatment that they had made up their minds to give him poison. I thought it was only idle talk, but a month afterwards, when I had just returned from a trip in the interior, one of the custom official’s boys came late one evening and brought me a letter in which he asked me to come over to him, because he was very sick and feared that he should die. Although I never had visited his house nor shaken his hand, I wouldn’t refuse to see him now. He was very miserable, his knees were drawn up against his chin and he was suffering very much from indigestion. I gave him black coffee mixed with ipecacuanha and some castor oil, and then he became better. So now he had nearly crossed the border and I told him that I hoped that he would pull through, and he said that he must change his mind and treat the black people better. He gave me his promise to do so and I may say that he kept his word. However his health was gone and some time after he died. But he was not the only one among that class of people. There was another, a director of a cocoa farm, belonging to a firm in Hamburg, who was a very desperate man and had some Contractados from Little Popo in his service, altogether about seventy or eighty men. He had an assistant who was very bad and both of these men made a very cruel couple and they treated the poor Popo people in a very ferocious manner. It was in the first days of December 1888 that I, one night, was alarmed by my watchman who awakened me and showed me two black men and two black women who were so badly flogged that they could only with very great difficulty drag themselves forward, leaning their injured bodies, each one, on two sticks. They had been engaged a short time ago by the director of the cocoa farm, but having been badly treated and flogged they ran away and came to me, asking me to take them in my service. The women I handed over to a black missionary1 who then was in Bibundi, with instructions to carry them to the Basel Mission in Victoria where they were promised employment as soon as they were fit. When they came their backs were so full of sores that they could only manage to lie on their stomachs and cried very loudly when we had to change fresh linen and dress the sores. The poor men were so frightened when they saw another face than mine, for they thought that somebody would come and take them away. It was charming to look at their smiles and the sparkle of their eyes when I told them that they would not be given to the Director any more nor to any other. I could let them stay with me for some time. I received a letter from their master in which he asked me to return his people at once. I answered him in a very definite tone that I would not return them but that I would keep the men, because the cruel treatment which he had given them showed fully that he was not a good master, and that he and his assistants were known for brutality and fierce treatment of the black men. A few days after, a man came running from Jonje and reported that the director and one of his assistants with two surf boats and many black men armed with guns were on the way to

BLACK AND WHITE

139

Bibundi and I understood they came to take the men by force. I was very glad to hear of it as I knew that I had power to check his attempts. I had forty Krumen and countrymen at the time in the yard. I took and armed them with forty capguns which were all fitted with caps, but unloaded, and told my Krumen to hide themselves in the saltstore and that they all should come running with the guns ready as for action when I blew my whistle. So I went down to the bridge and was prepared to meet the enemies. They came pulling up the river but when I told them at a distance that I wouldn’t allow them to set foot on my beach, as I understood they came to take the Popo-people, the director answered me that they didn’t fear me, and that they should show me, that they had power enough to bring back the people. Then I blew the whistle and forty men with guns ready for firing came rushing to the beach. Most of the director’s Krumen left their guns in the boats, jumped on their heads in the river and swam to the opposite sandbank, and the farmers now stood there in a very queer position alone and seemed to be very helpless. I told them that if I blew the whistle once more it would be a signal for fire from forty guns, but I gave them five minutes to pick up their men and clear off. I never saw a boat so quickly pulled out of the narrow entrance of the lovely Bekongolo river. The two Popo men stayed two years with me and they wouldn’t leave Waldau and me at all. They were good working men, but they were bad thieves. Once a month I used to open their boxes to gather my stolen goods. It was a natural habit among these men and when I found the stolen things in their presence, they shook their heads saying: ‘Some one put it for my chest Massa, me no fit to steal. Oh! no, me stay long time for you Massa, me no fit steal!’ I had a friar’s pipe and the same they had stolen several times, but always had to return it. Once they were hardly pressed by the Krumen, who told them in their common Kru-English, ‘You Popo be foolish too much, no use steal Massa’s pipe, he fit look loss them pipe quick you save, because him like them pipe too much.’ It was said that the director had been poisoned by the black people. His assistant was drowned in the surf off Bibundi where the boat capsized in calm weather. Another German trader, formerly of Victoria with Woermann, used to treat the black men very badly. He was perhaps the worst of the lot and hated very much by the Victoria people. This trader killed a Mapanja man by throwing a stone which hit the man near the liver in the stomach. The Mapanja man died but the trader was not punished. This happened in December 1887. This case was written about in a Swedish newspaper, Nya Pagligt Allehanda 1888, by Mr. Ed. Bovallius, (sig. E.B.), our agent in Bonge. The German Government suspected me to be the author of the article, because I told some Germans out in Cameroon that I considered it a great shame for the German nation that this trader was not punished. When I returned to Cameroon the Governor asked me if I was the author of the article, and I answered ‘no, but I considered the contents of the same to be in accordance with what really happened’. In this book I could fill many pages with horrid descriptions stating how badly the poor natives and Krumen were treated, their towns burnt, their people killed, but I turn now from those monstrosities, and give my high awards to a philanthropic and good man and a true friend of the natives, a German from Glückstadt, Director [for Jantzen and Thormählen] of a tobacco farm at Bibundi, Mr. Heinrich

140

KNUT KNUTSON

Nehber. When I think of this kindhearted and good natured man and compare him with the afore-mentioned men I should describe him as an angel. He was one of the best men who ever tramped the West African soil, a man who had his greatest satisfaction in treating the natives in a very humane way. He was consequently highly loved by the natives. I remember many dark rainy nights, when he used to come pulling in his small canoe, after having been to Bibundi town and visited sick natives. He was very skilful in curing sicknesses and gave all sick people at Bibundi town free medicine and attendance. Neither bad weather, fever, darkness nor strong current in the river could prevent him from visiting his sick people in Bibundi. He criticised very much the way in which his countrymen treated the natives and he did not fear to tell them the truth. He was not liked by v. Puttkamer, but Governor v. Soden, who was a very good man towards the natives, respected him very much and came very often to visit him. When v. S. went away to East Africa, and Zimmerer and Puttkamer became Governors, Nehber and I understood that a fearful time would come for the poor natives, and although he tried his utmost to prevent fighting and disturbances, there were so many who liked to provoke them. Through intrigues Nehber was recalled, although a good man, and another German who had been in Sumatra took Nehber’s place. This man was very cruel to the black people and as he very often was drunk, especially when a steamer called at Bibundi, there was a lot of trouble. Once I remember the Krumen from an English steamer brought him late one night to my bridge so drunk, that he had to be carried on a hand-barrow! He had flogged a native in Bibundi and I reported the case to the court in Victoria and a black policeman, by name Sam Stean [or Steane] was sent to call him before the court, but he threatened the policeman with a revolver, when he came to summon him, and struck him with a stick and the policeman came running to my house in order to hide. I went out and told the director at once to leave my beach. He did so but the same evening two Mauser rifle bullets passed through the walls of my house. I reported him again to the Governor asking the latter to send an official to judge the matter and complained at the same time that it was no special pleasure having such a neighbor. Mr. Leist,2 who was at that time acting as Governor and known as being very cruel against the natives and was dismissed from the German Colonial service for his conduct during 1894, came in his own high person to prove the case. The director was sentenced and fined to pay 400 Marks for his ill-treatment of the natives and the policeman. He denied having purposely fired the gun upon my house and if a rifle-bullet had hit my house, it had been when he was trying to kill a bullock at which he had fired several shots. Now I wish to again mention Mr. Heinrich Nehber, who had been home for recreation and took an engagement again with an expedition which started from the Cameroons to Benue. The expedition left the Cameroons in the middle of February 1891. Dr. Zintgraff3 was chief and said Heinrich Nehber was engaged to manage the trade with the natives during the expedition. Two officers, Lieutenant Hühner and Spangenberg, were chiefs for the black soldiers. In the interior the expedition, in which the two officers and Nehber were members, was ordered to march another way and was attacked by the Bafut and Bandeng natives, who were anxious that the middleman monopoly of trade would be taken from them. The

BLACK AND WHITE

141

two lieutenants, when seeing that they should soon be short of ammunition and consequently overpowered by the Bafuts, spared their last cartridges and shot themselves through the head, but Nehber, who had three cartridges left, ran away, followed by his cook, a very good runner, and left all their enemies behind them, with the exception of five men who pursued them. They had to swim over a river followed by the enemies and when Mr. Nehber reached the other shore he was very exhausted and stopped, telling his cook Mathew that he would not be able to run any further. He also told him that he must save his own life and report the fate of the expedition to the Coast. Then his pursuers reached him, but Nehber shot three of them before he was killed. The cook Mathew reported to me exactly how it happened. When the old King Befongo of Bibundi heard of Nehber’s death he was very sorry and told me that he would go to the town at once and tell the people that they now had lost one of their best and truest friends, and several evenings afterwards the Bibundi people were crying the threnodies for ‘Mokkala Nehber’. I have read several German works on the Cameroons but the name Nehber has never been mentioned among the pioneers. He was, according to my opinion, one of the few Germans I met in the Cameroons who fully understood the natives and was really loved by the black people. He was also a very brave man and I remember for instance when Mr. England, a clerk, at that time in Batekka ba Malalle of the Ambas Bay Trading Co., was attacked by some Odobob people Nehber went there with five Krumen to rescue him. I was up at Bomboko when I heard that the natives had caught Mr. England and that they intended to kill him. Then I marched night and day to get there in time for assistance. When I came down, the Odobob people had run away and Messrs. Nehber and England were sitting and enjoying themselves with palmoilchop and a glass of beer and were very glad to see me again. At that time the white people on the Coast of Africa kept together. It made no difference if it was an Englishman, a German or a Swede who was in danger, the principal point was to assist one another. I was not very well liked by Mr. v. Puttkamer and his assistants in the Cameroons. I had received the nickname, ‘the niggerfriend’ because I was considered to take the part of the natives, but I may say that I was rather proud of my nickname. However, I heard that hard words were uttered about me by the officials. Hitherto they had not dared to insult me, but of course, I noticed very well that I was not a persona grata, as you will note from the below mentioned dispute which I had with a German officer in the Cameroons. The old King Aqua in the Cameroon river, who was a customer at my factory at that place, had a son who had thrown a stone that unfortunately, I dare say, had hit a horse belonging to one of the German officials, and that was considered to be a very serious matter for the father of the boy. Poor old King Aqua was threatened to be sent to jail, and had received some blows from the police-master, who entered his house and called him a black swine and other endearing names, and he was fined to deposit £50 sterling in gold in the course of twenty-four hours as security until the case had been judged by the court in Duala. The merchants in the river would not assist the king, they were frightened of reprisals from the Government’s side, and would not lend him the money, although he had brought some security in ivory. At last in the night he came to me

142

KNUT KNUTSON

and I lent him the money against security of three ivories. The next day policeman F. came to me and asked why I did so, and I answered him that I did it because it seemed to me to be business and also considered it to be unfair and against the German laws that the father should be punished for an act committed by his son, which I believed was done by mistake. Then he began to speak about my taking the part of the Niggers etc. and that King Aqua was one of the biggest beggars in the river. I made the process short, telling him that I did not understand the purpose of his visit and that on my way home I would call at Berlin and report how he treated the natives, which treatment I considered to be unjust. Missionary Bohner came afterwards to me and thanked me for what I had done, saying that ‘a foreigner can do more than we can do’. Some few days afterwards a German Woermann steamer came up the river, and in the evening I and my agent, Mr. Lindow, went on board the steamer, where an Englishman also was sitting in the saloon. Some German officers and officials were present and amongst others a Captain H. with the German colonial troops who was very drunk and began to talk a lot of nonsense, ‘that Germany in the course of a few years should take both England and Sweden and that all Englishmen and Swedes should be pushed out in the river etc. Both these nations’, he said, ‘were bad and I was an especially bad fellow, a niggerfriend, who always stood on the niggers’ side and was not liked by the German Government’s officials and the officers on the river.’ I told the captain that as he at present was intoxicated I would not bandy words with him, but tomorrow I should insist very urgently upon an apology from his chief, Major von Stetten,4 and also from himself. At last he threatened me and struck me on the chest. I caught him and pulled him out of the cabin. Early next morning I put my revolver in my pocket and walked to Major v. Stetten and asked him to be good enough to give me personal satisfaction as he kept such poor discipline among his officers, relating how one of them, Captain H. had insulted me in the presence of several gentlemen on board a German steamer. He was very sorry and promised me that he would send Captain H. in the course of a few hours to apologize, which he also did. I excused him but on condition that he should leave the Cameroons in order to prevent a repetition of his insults to others. Major v. Stetten also came and apologized to me, and although he found the conditions hard it was wired to Berlin and H. was dismissed from the German Colonial Service and sent home by the first German steamer. When Captain H. passed Bibundi on his homeward journey, he came up to my house asking me that, if some letter should arrive from the officers’ Court of Honour in Germany re his foolish acts against me, he should be very much obliged to me, if I would say that I did not remember what nonsense H. had been talking and that H. was a little drunk. I smiled at the word a ‘little drunk’. Having arrived in Stockholm there was a long letter from the Officers’ Court of Honour in Kiel to The German General consulate stating that it would be of great value if I could give a report of the case. I answered personally ‘that I had forgotten the whole matter’. I wouldn’t spoil his future. There is no doubt that it was the system which brought Captain H. to insult me and that some of the German officials were much against me, owing to the fact that I often took the natives’ part.

BLACK AND WHITE

143

Now I will close this chapter and hope that the future of the natives in the Cameroons will be happier than it has been hitherto. Many might say that there is no reason to put so many cruelties and bad acts committed by West Europeans before [the public?], perhaps also before the eyes of the black people, but I assure you I have acted so only with the intention of preventing repetition of the old fearful times. I consider it as my duty to do so. This chapter, ‘Black and White’, must open the eyes of the whole of the educated people in Europe. There ought to be a very careful selection before sending men, (officials, farmers and traders) to West Africa. I said men, but instead I should have said ‘the very best men’ that West Europe can afford to spare, must go there. I recommend highly that a more warm and intimate work should for the future be established between the Governments of the European Powers and the Missionary societies working out in West Africa, and I am quite sure that such a combined work should be of great value both to the powers and the natives. No doubt the missionaries come in closer contact with the black people than most of the other white men do. Many times quarrels could be prevented and settled in a peaceful way, which is a great question. In the next chapter I will give an account of my opinion of the work of the missionaries out in the Cameroons.

Editor’s Notes 1. Could this be the Rev. Joseph Fuller, who had had the task of handing over the Baptist concessions to the Basel Mission? Or Mr. Wilson? 2. Government Assessor Leist, Chancellor, and at one time Acting Governor of Cameroon, gave an account of this expedition to the grassfields, and of Gravenreuth’s attack on, and death by, Buea people, in which he was himself involved (see Ardener, E.W. 1996: 79–119, passim), in Jahresbericht, betreffend die Entwicklung des Schutzgebietes Kamerun im Jahre 1891, DKB, III: 198–208. Leist was notorious for his involvement in the scandals connected with the wives of the Dahomey soldiers at Douala. 3. See Zintgraff 1895 for his own story, (for English epitomes of his book, and his photograph, see Chilver 1966 and 1999, and Chilver and Röschenthaler 2001). Hühner was not a soldier, but a civilian, ‘Expeditionsmeister’, expedition leader. 4. Rittmeister von Stetten was part of several military demarche in Cameroon; he was a lieutenant (according to Acting Governor von Schukmann’s report of 18 November 1891) at the time of Gravenreuth’s attack on Buea, where he was slightly wounded, see Ardener, E.W. 1996: 94 and passim.

CHAPTER 11

The Missionaries, the Explorers and the Men I met at the Cameroons

When I went out to the Cameroons the second time on the S.S. ‘Kinzembo’ (November 1886) I had the great pleasure to have as fellow passengers two English Missionaries, Mr. C.H. Gollmer and Mr. James Vernoll. Of all the passengers I met on board I sympathized mostly with these two gentlemen, who had a higher view of things (conditions) and the same opinion as I about the black race. We agreed fully that the natives in Africa were not treated as they ought to be. When I told them of my hopeless experience from Cameroons, they told me that it was my duty to prevent further cruelties and report the same to the Governor of the place. In the foregoing chapters I have told you about all the trouble I had to bear by doing so. I may say that my daily life together with these two sympathetic men had the result that my opinion of the missionaries and their work has always been very high. They have done civilization many great services. If anybody out on the West Coast of Africa, or here in Sweden, has tried to show the Mission work to the public in a wrong direction, I have stood up and fought, and that for the simple reason that what I have seen with my own eyes and know to be true, I must defend. I have noticed the love and high respect the natives always entertained for their missionaries. I have seen the very useful work that they have carried out, the hardships and the troubles, which they have had to pull through and endure. I shall never forget my friends from the ‘Kinzembo’, the Messrs. Gollmer and Vernoll. The first Missionary society that worked in Cameroon territory was the English Baptist. Mr. Alfred Saker, born in Kent 1814 came to Cameroon 1845 and settled in King Aqua town and founded ‘The Bethel-station’.1 Afterwards he bought from the old King William in Bimbia, the small territory situated between Bota and the Man-of-War Bay, together with the islands Mondoleh and Ambas, and established on the mainland the small town of Victoria. Here a number of black Christians from Fernando Po, Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast came and built their homes. Mr. Alfred Saker was working very hard for this new place and established Mission-stations both in Victoria, Bonjongo and Mapanja. He was known as a man

146

KNUT KNUTSON

with very great gifts for preaching, very intelligent and understood how to get on with the natives. My old friend Mr. Sam Brew at Victoria, who formerly was president of the court of that place, used to speak about Mr. Saker and always in the highest manner. He had several assistants, who all did a wonderful work in Africa, such as George Grenfell, T. Comber, Quintin Thomson, H. Benteley, Th. Lewis,2 Wm. Smith and Richardson in Bakundu, of whom I suppose all [in 1916/18] are dead with the possible exception of Mr. Thomas Lewis and Mr. Richardson. George Grenfell, the very well known Congo-missionary and explorer was born in Sancred, August 21st, 1849 and arrived at Cameroons 1875, where he assisted Mr. Saker as well at the Cameroon river as in Victoria. Once I had the pleasure of meeting him in Victoria. I believe he was there on an occasional visit from the Congo, on his voyage home. He was very interested in Waldau’s and my life up at the mountains, and I had to give him detailed reports about his old friends at Mapanja. He told me that he was a great admirer of the Cameroon Mountains, but he considered the mission-field in the Congo to be of much more importance as so many white men of different nationalities had their work in exploring and trade in the Congo. The excellent explorer of the African Continent, Sir H.H. Johnston, has in his work George Grenfell and the Congo, shown that Grenfell was one of the most eminent explorers who ever cut his way through the dense forests, or passed through the unhealthy Fenny branch river-districts of the Congo [sic]. His useful Missionary work has been described in a book with the title The Life of George Grenfell, Congo Missionary and Explorer, by George Hawker. George Grenfell was known during his time in Victoria for his perseverance and industriousness and he always tried to teach and point out to the natives that labour brings blessings. He was a skilfull mechanic and repaired the small sawmill in Victoria, and built houses – in a word he was always busy. In the year 1880 Mr. Grenfell and Mr. Comber went from Cameroons to Congo.3 Mr. Grenfell was a special friend of the natives and he and the Swedish missionaries in the Congo have done very much in improving the treatment of the natives which in the beginning was somewhat terrible on the part of the Belgian government. Grenfell died in Basoko July 1st, 1906. His friend Comber stayed in Victoria during several years. He also had a very great interest in exploring and ascended the Cameroon Peak in 1877 and made several interesting exploring journeys to the interior. He was stationed for a long time on the Cameroon Mountain at Bonjongo and Mapanja where he taught school and preached the Gospel. Mr. Waldau and I have to be very thankful to him as well as to all the other missionaries for their work in the Cameroons. I wonder how Mr. Waldau and I would have been able to work up on the Cameroon Mountains if these pioneers had not been there before us? Our guides and interpreters were all brought up by them. We reaped the benefit of their difficult work which I shall never forget. The missionaries prepared the road for us and for all who came after us, and we should be very ungrateful if we should not recognize this fact and give them our heartiest thanks and ‘cum laudum’. They lived in the mountains without any comforts, they were brave men, who loved the nature of the wonderful majestic Cameroon Mountains. However they were not forgotten by their flock. During my hunting trips the Bakweri-men very often

THE MISSIONARIES, EXPLORERS AND MEN I MET

147

spoke about Mr. Thomson, Mr. Comber and Mr. Grenfell and they said always ‘they be good too much, they liked us, they liked the mountains and we liked them’. Mr. Thomson died the same day I landed in Victoria, [28th] December 1883. In 1885 ‘The Baptist Missionary Society’ sold their estate at Victoria to the ‘Basel Mission’ and after that time Mr. Bohner, who had been at the Gold Coast for thirty years came to the Cameroons.4 I made his acquaintance on a German steamer during a journey from Accra to the Cameroons, and we became the most intimate friends. He was a very great friend of the natives and a brave defender of their rights. Another missionary was Mr. Christaller, who was schoolmaster in the Cameroons. He has written several literary works amongst which is a dictionary in the Dualla language. I am convinced of the fact that Africa couldn’t do without the missionaries if the colonisation and trade should continue on human terms. There is no doubt that acts of the white men against the natives must be kept under a certain control, and it’s a fact that hitherto the Missionary Societies have done a very useful work in regard to the prevention and unjust treatment of the old inhabitants of Africa. I have in the foregoing chapters shown that it would be of very great value if the Governors of the colonies in Africa were to work more intimately together with the Missionary societies, especially regarding all social questions, which touch the white colonists and the natives. The olden times must not return. A new time has to come, showing that the civilization by the white race is not only a superficial one. I fancy that the philanthropic and Christian work which the missionaries carry out in Africa is only a payment of an old and horrid debt, due from the Christian and white race to the black race. I mean the slave trade. If that debt shall be paid in full, I may say that we have to consider that still a very great work lies in front of the white race, and that already a small share of this debt is washed off is, I think, mostly due to the merits of the Christian and educational work which the missionaries have done amongst the blacks in Africa.5 The recent war [World War I]6 is not very promising for international Mission work in Africa. The waves of nationalism have divided the Christians in several different camps, and the word peace which all the missionaries, especially, have preached in Africa has been proved to be only an illusion. What shall the natives think of us, who preach peace and sow war? I am sorry to say that the Missions in Africa, through this war, are being dispersed, but I hope that the Nationalism shall not be able to overpower the Christian international love and fraternal work. The different Missionary societies have always acted on a very broad-minded basis, and I feel sure that they soon will work in the same friendly way as they used to before. Africa is a very large mission field and no possibility exists for one nation to work there alone. The mission work should be divided in such a way that the Catholics should have their fixed territory, and the Protestants theirs. As it now is, with mixed Catholic and Protestant teaching and churches in the same town, it is not satisfactory because there is a certain jealousy and competition between them, which there should not be. As a conclusion of this chapter I would only say, it would be much better for Africa if there was a common language for the whole Coast and I cannot see any reason why English should not be preferred because it is easier for the natives to

148

KNUT KNUTSON

learn. I would herewith not say, that England should possess all the colonies in Africa. No! Not at all. I think that as soon as the colonies get native men intelligent enough to govern themselves, the Powers will have to consider that also the black races have the right to be masters in their own country. The educational and social work will of course take a long time, but I believe it will go quicker in Africa where the Powers and their large armies do not prevent human work for peace. The Africans would perhaps more easily attain this object than we Europeans could. No doubt, we have to be thankful to the pioneers in Africa who always have preached peace. I mean the international missionaries. Mr. George Waldau, my companion traveller through the Cameroons, was a brave, kind, true and tender-hearted man liked by all whom he came into contact with. There is no living man now who knows the Cameroons so well as he does and there is none who possesses so great a reputation among the natives as he. Of all men, they may be English or German, they have only the best word to say about him. Many hundreds of times his life has hung as if on a hair, but he has always been able to pull through. He is loved and admired by the natives and is now one of the oldest in the Cameroon colony. He was indeed a splendid comrade and I wish to express herewith my heartiest thanks to him for a long friendship, for his good fellowship, for all help and assistance in days of fever and peril. May God ever bless him for all good acts he carried out for me and all whom he met, either white or black. Sometimes the Bakweri in Mapanja went down to their old friend in Debundscha Cocoa Farm and spoke about the old times. They used to do so once or twice yearly. Mr. Waldau and his good wife live at Debundscha, where he is director of a Cocoa farm. Mr. Waldau has the Swedish Linnean Medal in Gold which was granted him by the Swedish Scientific society and besides, several other medals and orders. There were two other Swedes who were very interested in collecting

Figure 15: Carl Pouncette (Pouncette)

THE MISSIONARIES, EXPLORERS AND MEN I MET

149

natural products and were skilful experts of the country, namely Mr. E. Bovallius, brother of the well-known Swedish traveller in South America, and Mr. Gunnar Linnell, both settled in South America. They have made many very valuable scientific collections. Also Dr. P. Dusén, the well-known explorer, who has taken the majority of the photographs in this book and who surveyed and measured our ground. He made some very fine botanical and geological collections from the Cameroons. Professor Sjöstedt and Dr. Jungner I have already spoken about. They made very fine collections in the neighbourhood of the factories and the farms. Another gentleman who made many very fine collections, was Mr. Fritz Theorin, who was agent for the firm John Holt & Co. Mr. John Holt had been in Fernando Po for a long time and was a great friend of the black people. Mr. A. Löfdahl and Mr. Axel Lindow made many collections and were very much interested in the Fauna and Flora of Cameroons. Captain Carlmark in the Swedish Army Reserve, and the Captain of our small steamer, ‘Bibundi’, Anders Björk, were very skillful in their services and understood how to treat the black people. Mr. Gustafsson and Mr. Ohlsson I have already mentioned. They were skillful and very good men and liked exceedingly by the natives. Of the Englishmen who were out during my time Sir Harry Johnston was the most remarkable, a great sportsman and a very clever scientist. He made splendid collections of birds, skins and discovered many birds which were new to science, as already stated in the foregoing chapter. He was very much liked and respected by the natives of Cameroon, and known everywhere along the Coast.7 I consider him, amongst the Englishmen, to know the Cameroon Mountains best of all. We

Figure 16: Swedes on Christmas Day, 1890. Front row, from left: Sjösteot, Jungner, Pagels, Waldau, Knutson, Bovallius. Back row, from left: Porter (an Englishman working for the firm), Linell, Frankenberg, Alander, Andersson, Björk, Hellqvist, Löfdahl, Pettersson, and Porter. © The National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Per Dusén.

150

KNUT KNUTSON

did not meet there although we both climbed the mountains. I was very busy and time never allowed me to visit him, although I many times visited Victoria I could not get a chance to see him at Mondoleh. Once I was there to look him up but then he had unfortunately gone to Old Calabar. He was a very energetic man and quite a contrast to Consul Hewitt. He has written many splendid scientific books about Africa and is known over the whole world as the most skillful expert of the exotic Fauna. He climbed the Great Peak of the Cameroon Mountains the same year as I did, 1886. Of the German explorers who had made fine collections Dr. Preuss was the most skillful in the mountains. He visited the Great Peak (Monga ma Loba) in 1891. Hugo Zöller, who together with the Russians Rogozinski and Janikowski visited Monga ma Loba in December 1884 , wrote a book of 780 pages about the Cameroons. Although he was there only two or three months nevertheless I consider his work to [be] better than many others. Also Dr. Bernhard Schwarz, already mentioned, was in the Cameroons not quite a month and a half, and he wrote a book of some hundred pages, so there is no doubt about that we have had many literary works about the Cameroons. Dr. Zintgraff was one of the most celebrated travellers and explorers of the North Cameroon district. He had been there a long time and knew these people well and also their customs. His literary work shows a much higher degree of general education and knowledge of the natives than most of his countrymen. Mr. Conrau and Missionary Autenrieth have explored the northwest part of the Cameroon territory. Mr. G. Zenker has made the finest scientific collections from the Yaunde [=Yaounde] territory. Further, a scientist, Professor Albert Plehn of Berlin,8 was the German Government’s doctor at Cameroon. He was very practised in tropical diseases and has done very useful work to improve the sanitary state of the Cameroons. He and his amiable wife did not spare themselves travelling about in the Cameroon territory and he has written several books of which The Cameroon Coast 1898 is a splendid one. Both of them were very well acquainted with the Cameroons and loved this country exceedingly. A German, Consul Carl René has written a work about the ‘Cameroons’, which shows that he does not know very much about the Coast-territory. The book seems to be written with the object of praising the work of von Puttkamer in Cameroons, it touches very little upon the life of the natives and is of no value. The book by A. Seidel, German Cameroons, is one of the best works which has been written about the Cameroons with the exception of what H.H. Johnston and the English Baptist missionaries have written. There is no doubt that his book has great value because he has understood how to collect from other authors.

* * * * * And now we leave the explorers and travellers of the Cameroons. Many of them are gone but a few are still alive. Now I wish to give a sketch of how the people thirty years ago spent a Christmas Eve in the Cameroons.We four Swedes were together with all the English merchants on the Cameroon river, invited by Mr. E. Schmidt, agent for a German firm, to his factory on the Bell beach for a Christmas Eve dinner. We had just arrived on the 23rd of December [1883] at the said place

THE MISSIONARIES, EXPLORERS AND MEN I MET

151

and we were not attired in white dress as the white men usually wear in West Africa. In our Swedish hunting suits and heavy boots we looked quite different to the other men present. We were invited at seven o’clock in the evening and we were twenty-nine people, fifteen Englishmen, ten Germans, and four Swedes.The dinner began with soup and some old port. We Swedes were very moderate about the drinks and [sometimes] we only put our lips to the glass but the Englishmen and the Germans drank very often. Captain Buchanan, the agent of the firm R.W. King of Bristol, proposed a toast for the German Emperor, the German Nation and our host Mr. Schmidt, which was followed by cheers. Then Mr. Schmidt proposed a toast for the Queen of England, the English Nation, and for the oldest and most respected man on the river, Capt. Buchanan, followed by cheers. Champagne flowed in abundance and great animation prevailed. Mr. Schmidt had the courtesy to propose a toast for the Swedish King and Nation and for us four Swedes especially, which was very kind of him. One of the gentlemen who was already drunk declared that he wouln’t empty his glass for the reason that he did not know either Sweden or us, and that he couldn’t understand what we had to do in the Cameroons. He was at once told by Mr. Buchanan to shut up and behave himself as a gentleman, or Mr. Schmidt would soon show him the door. Of course there was a little disturbance of the joy of Christmas days which I consider should be spent peacefully. I thanked Mr. Schmidt for the kindness and honour shown my King, my nation, my companions and me. I knew that the man who had said that he would not drink for Sweden and for us would join us now and drink for our hospitable host and so we Swedes gave three cheers for the health of Mr. Schmidt. We did so in our usual military Swedish way, which was very much liked by the whole party. Afterwards when we left the table Captain Buchanan and Captain Allen9 came to me and said they were glad to have met people who understood how to treat a drunk man and not disturb the Christmas joy. When the Christmas holidays were over we Swedes longed to get away from the river. We knew that we had to meet many difficulties up in the bush, but still the mountains and the forests had for us a much greater attraction than the life on the Cameroon river. The agents for the European firms in Cameroon were at that time Captain Buchanan for R.W. King, Capt. Trotter, for Rider Son & Andrew, Mr. Allen, agent for John Holt & co. Liverpool, Mr. J. Hamilton, agent for some English firm, Mr. Edward Schmidt, agent for C. Woermann Co., Capt. Johanes Voss from Lübeck was agent for the firm Jantzen & Thormählen in Hamburg. I remember another dinner given by Captain Voss some years later when there were many German officials present. I was then on the river and, having shown Capt. Voss hospitality when he was in Bibundi on a short visit, he was good enough to invite me to dinner. But the ‘savoir vivre,’ had changed very much since last time I was there. Such quantities of champagne and wine were consumed that all present except the host, Capt. Voss, Messrs. Weiler, Nehber and I, were more or less drunk. Chancellor von Puttkamer was very lively and kicked up a row with Mr. Weiler. He had great difficulty to get down the ladder of the old hulk ‘Louise’, but assisted by his Krumen he reached his gig safely. Capt. Voss was a very congenial man who often spent his money by giving dinners for people who did not have a chance to return the hospitality. Once I heard

152

KNUT KNUTSON

of a big dinner on the ‘Louise’, on board which hulk he lived. Two travellers who intended to go to the interior were present. By the way, these travellers never did travel. Capt. Voss had some days before brought a thousand kegs of powder on board old ‘Louise’ and just as he and his guests were enjoying the banquet a Kruboy came running, shouting ‘Massa them fire live for ship too much.’ Here is a ‘Tableaux’: Both the travellers lost their presence of mind and jumped into the river and swam ashore. But old Capt. Voss and his assistants and some of the guests who had not already jumped into the boats worked during half the night before the fire was extinguished. After that time the said travellers lost their reputation and went home to Europe. Capt Voss and another gentleman told me this story and I think these narratives will give my reader an opinion of the life in Cameroon river thirty years ago. The usual drinks on the river were cocktail, champagne and beer. Very often you would hear people say: ‘I feel a little feverish today, I think a cocktail would do me good.’ Then the man strikes a gong and a black boy appears. ‘A cocktail, Gin you know, quick foolish fellow otherwise you know!’ At the house of one man in the river, whom I visited, I saw a parrot sitting in a cage on the piazza, and as soon as the bird noticed that I entered the house it shouted, ‘Boy bring brandy and soda, quick foolish fellow.’ The owner of the parrot was very proud that the bird understood so well what his visiting guests required. The hospitality was very great, but I may say that there were not many who were confirmed drunkards. In fact they were more moderate in Cameroons than at many other rivers. The moderate men and those who were abstainers and lived a regular life could, if they had a strong constitution and preserved health, be sure to have a return ticket in their pockets. Many made the great mistake and ruined themselves by taking too large doses at one time of quinine. Mr. Waldau who has been on the West Coast of Africa for thirty-three years has never had black water fever. I was there from 1883–1895 and never had this fever, which we believe is caused by too large doses of quinine. We never took more than one-half gram at a time.10 Now, it is much healthier on the West Coast since the well-known Nobel-prize taker, Sir Dr. Ross made his great scientific discovery about the mosquito as a carrier of the infection of malaria. The country has been more drained and we must give great honour to all the work accomplished by the School for Tropical Diseases, at Liverpool. There is [cause] to hope that in the course of twenty years West Africa shall be a healthy country. The first German Governor of Cameroons was von Soden and he was also the only capable man they had during my stay at the Cameroons. He was very much liked by the natives and tried to do all he could to settle matters in a friendly way, and avoided burning towns. He worked progressively, surely and without great expenses, and was highly regarded by both the English and Swedish people at the Cameroons. He told me that as soon as I noticed any cruelty on the part of the farmers or officials, to report the same to him at once. However, I’m sorry to say that he soon left the colony and went away to East Africa. Zimmerer was Governor for a short time and did no harm, but he cared very little for the colony, and the white colonists could do nearly what they liked, which they also did. Von Puttkamer was called by the natives on the river, ‘Bismark him wife’s brother’s son’. He was respected very little by the white and black men of the Cameroons. He was

THE MISSIONARIES, EXPLORERS AND MEN I MET

153

Governor for many years and must have been very well protected at home, being able to keep his position so long. Near the Cameroons lived Mr. Teusz who was manager of a cocoa farm at Manof-War Bay, a very skillful and industrious man, who had been with Stanley in the Congo. A Spaniard, Mr. Justo Weiler was assistant to Capt. Voss and is now a cocoa farmer near Bibundi. There was also during my time a Capt. Herbert, from Bristol, I believe he was with Lucas Brothers of Bristol, and two brothers, Messrs. Holder with R.W. King from the same place, and they were very kind and friendly men. The agent for Ambas Trading Co. Ltd. was Mr. Lander of Victoria who had formerly been on Brass and Opobo rivers. He could tell very much about the old trade on the Old Oil Rivers, and of the old Palmoil Ruffians at Bonny and Benin. Mr. Stehr was agent for C. Woerman’s at Victoria and was a very kind man and also very much liked by the natives. I shall never forget, when I was with him once and we were invited to a fancy ball in Victoria given by Mr. Sam Edgerly, a coloured gentelman. We of course did not dance, but it was interesting to see how a ball was carried on. There were many gentlemen and ladies from Fernando Po, mostly mulattos and all spoke Spanish and English. I saw a dance which the West Europeans took up about twenty-five years afterwards. I have not seen it here [in Sweden] but have heard of it. The name of it was ‘Cake Walk.’ They had a big cake which they carried on their heads and passed the same over from one person to the other, at the same time singing and dancing around the room. I must not forget to mention my old coloured friend Mr. Sam Brew in Victoria. He was a very nice man and respected by all white men, with whom it was a great pleasure to talk. He had his own small library and had a very good general education. He knew the country well and it was always a pleasure to converse with him because he had so much to say about the olden times, of the slave trade and the natives, of the missions, and all his hardships during his life. He was a true Christian and called ‘Tatta Brew’ which means Father Brew. All the people in Victoria and Bonjongo looked up to him as to a father. He was poor but an honest man in whom Mr. Waldau and I had very great confidence, although he at first worked against our interests. In Bimbia was an agent for C. Woerman by name Julius Knohn who stayed there some years. We were once at Nicoll Island where we tried to excavate a treasure of which it was said that the deceased old King William had hidden there about one hundred years ago. His grandson told us that the slaves who dug the hole into which the treasure would have been put, were killed and only his grandmother knew the exact spot where this treasure was buried. We worked a whole day but without result. King William Jr. said that the treasure should consist of an old Portuguese silver coin. In fact I saw such a coin in Bota once, and tried to buy it, but the owner would not sell it. To show you how different the olden times were to the present I wish to translate a letter from my agent [Ed. Bollavius] in Bonge on the Meme river, dated the 20/11/1890. Brother Knutson I send you herewith a small canoe and ask you to send me some writing paper, kerosene and candles. I presume the canoe will reach you at Bibundi the 22nd, early in the morning and that I can expect it back here on the 24th.

154

KNUT KNUTSON

Next week I believe that I shall have so many palmoil casks ready, that I can begin to float the casks down the river. The trade is increasing more and more. Yours and Waldau’s arrival here is very necessary, firstly to start the Bakundu trade, and secondly to go up and fetch down Bonge [Mbonge] Ombele, Bonge Bambanda [Mambanda], and Bavo na N’janga [? =Bavo ba N’janga]. It’s further necessary that one of you should go to Love and Ekundu Etitte [Ekondo Titi], where there are a lot of palavers to settle. Efa, one of our traders, has been here today and complained about the people there who have stopped a caravan from Kumba to Balue on the way to Efa, and also destroyed the calebasses [calabashes] and tied the carriers. They have also allowed themselves to empty one cask which Efa had bought from the Balue people. On that occasion the Ekundu Etitte came armed with guns and cutlasses. Efa tried to frighten them with Mokkala – (The white man), but they only answered that they didn’t fear the white man, who can die from the shot of a gun as well as they can. Yours truly, E.B.

However I may state that the Ekundu Etitte people paid for the oil that they had destroyed for the Balue people and also the cask of palmoil which they robbed from Efa. Mr. Waldau went to Ekundu Etitti and the palaver was settled in the course of a day. But if a young official or officer should have settled it, I’m quite certain that it would not have been so peacefully done. I may mention that the natives have more confidence in people who know their religious customs and have lived among them for a long time and can speak their language and understand them, than in young men who do not know their habits. The missionaries and the traders should always be asked to assist the government when a conflict with the natives takes place. I am sure that in many cases it would be peacefully arranged. It is true that conditions may have changed very much since I was out there but I know something which will never change and that is the subject of contention. As long as the white race cannot manage to keep the peace between themselves, how difficult shall it then not be for the black and white race to agree, between whom there is such an abyss.

A Broken Branch from the White Men’s Garden Here is a sketch from life which I consider pitiable. The man was really not bad, I should say the contrary, he was better than many that I met:- Not far from Victoria between Mokandange and Batoki was a small place by name Oodje where a white man lived. He was well educated, intelligent and of a very good family but he lived in the same way as the natives. He had acquired habits which disgraced him among the white men who treated him with disdain, especially his own countrymen (he was an Englishman). He had formerly been employed by a Liverpool firm on the South-West Coast of Africa but moved to Victoria as a clerk for an English firm which went bankrupt, and then it was that this man was placed in a very difficult position. His countrymen wouldn’t help him, nor the Germans. He had no friends but the old coloured gentleman, Mr. Brew at Victoria, and the natives who tried to do what they could and brought him a little food. We were at

THE MISSIONARIES, EXPLORERS AND MEN I MET

155

that time in Bibundi and when I came to Victoria I heard from Mr. Brew about the condition of the poor man, whom I had seen several times before when he had employment, and at which time he never drank but behaved like a gentleman. He had now become a confirmed drunkard and it was said that he consumed much low German rum and gin which was sold in enormous quantities to the natives. Mr. Brew begged and asked me if I could possibly take the man and try to make him amend. He said he knew that I had done so before with one of my countrymen, who formerly had been very fond of liquor. Mr. Brew begged me many times that I should promise him to make a trial. I must confess that I was not very delighted but at the same time I felt that I could not allow that the man should be spoiled altogether. When I came home to Bibundi I discussed the question with my friend Mr. Waldau, who told me that I could do as I pleased. Then I wrote to the gentleman in Oodje and proposed to him that he should come to me and help us with the trade and beach work in the Bibundi district with a certain monthly salary. Soon I received the most well-written and thankful letter in which the gentleman said that he was so glad to receive an appointment but he confessed that he was so poor that he had no clothes and was now walking about with only a fathom of cloth around his waist just as the natives. Then I prepared a box filled with flannel, a singlet, a hat, a pair of boots, stockings, some tobacco and an umbrella and then I went in my surf boat over to Oodje where I found him living in a hut and walking about with a common fathom of cloth around his waist. I was surprised to find a white man so poor and without a friend with the exception of Mr. Brew and the poor natives of Batoki Oodje and N’geme. The old king in Batoki came down and I had a long private conference with him about the poor man. I asked the king if this man owed him or any of the other people there any money. He answered me, ‘no’. The king said, You see this man is very honest, he has only one fault, he would sell all he has for a bottle of gin. He is a very kind man and I don’t understand why his countrymen and the other white men here do not like to take care of him. He is no murderer and no thief, on the contrary he would never deceive anyone. Why do the white men not do something for him but only leave him to Mr. Brew and the poor natives? I have visited his fellowmen in Cameroon and I have also been to the Germans but they only shook their heads and said that they had nothing to do with him. If we, Mr. Knutson, had said so, the man would have been dead long ago.

I was very sorry to hear the characteristics of the unfortunate man and also of the very great carelessness from the side of his countrymen. How is it with the culture and the religion of our race compared with these old heathens? I had been very uncertain as to what I should do with this poor white man, but now I decided that I should try my utmost to have him become reconciled again. I would tell him that if he began to drink I must send him to the Germans, for whom he had a very great respect. I told the king after my interview with the miserable man that I had engaged the man in my service. On hearing this the king became so glad that he ran up to me several times shook my hands and danced around me. I told the man to dress himself inside his hut, in the new flannel suit etc., and when he stepped out again he was quite another man. The king and the

156

KNUT KNUTSON

natives were astonished, crying that now they recognized the former gentleman. He had undergone a metamorphose, he was a white man again, but at the same time he was still their good old friend, whom they had always respected and liked very much. Not a single word about his former degradation was uttered. Then we pulled away through the surf and by the rocky points of Oodje and at Batoki many natives stood waving their hand and thus wishing success to the unhappy white man, whom they had shown so much kindness, although he was poor and despised by his own race. When we came to Bibundi late in the evening, Mr. Nehber, the German philanthropist, invited us to dinner and he expressed in a splendid speech, in English, that he was very glad to see the gentleman and hoped that he would be pleased with the work that I had offered him in Bibundi. The man was deeply affected by the kind words of Mr. Nehber and he could not keep back his tears, but cried like a child. Both of us were touched and we all cried for joy. For two years he was guided by me and stood under my closest observation and I must say that he worked well and was never drunk. Then it happened that I should return to Europe and he told me that he should like to start something for himself. He had saved about sixty or seventy pounds and said that he was very fond of fishing and would begin to fish at Batekka Coast and asked me to buy him a good fishing net in England. I carried out his instructions and the first time he did well, but then he faltered again and began to drink in the same old fashion. His health began to fail and he got some very severe boils on his legs. His money was spent and the fishing net was sold. Mr. Waldau nursed him but as he became worse he sent him to Old Calabar where they could take better care of him than he could at Rio del Rey. But he had no money and was not accepted in the white mens’ hospital and therefore placed in the black mens’. He used to say to a friend of mine who visited him on Sundays that he was glad to be among the black people, who always had treated him much better and showed him greater hospitality and friendship than his own people had done. He repeated that he hoped God would let him end his days among his black friends. His hopes and wishes were granted him. Of all the captains on the steamers which were running on the West Coast of Africa during my time, 1883–1895, there were many who were quite odd fishes. But in fact these men were the best and they kept strong discipline on board their steamers and treated all in the same way. The most favored of all the captains was Capt. Jolly on the ‘Kinsembo’. I shall never forget old Jolly, he was a very kind and good man, and always very humoristic and very much liked by the Krumen who came on board at Cape Palmas to work his ship on the way down the West Coast as far as to the Congo. I had as second headman a Kruman, George, who had been two or three years with Jolly and he told me that when the ‘Kinsembo’ dropped her anchor by Las Palmas a lot of Krumen used to pull out to dash to their beloved captain. Once they brought him a fowl which he should carry to his wife in Liverpool. But he wouldn’t accept it, saying that the bird would die of cold during the voyage. The Krumen who left him at Cape Palmas used to sing, ‘For Jolly is a jolly good fellow, he is a jolly good fellow.’ Then the old man smiled and said, ‘Good-by boys, we will soon meet again.’ He was one of my special friends and although he seldom left his ship in a harbor on the West Coast of Africa, he used

THE MISSIONARIES, EXPLORERS AND MEN I MET

157

to come on shore to me in Bibundi and have his palm-oil-chop and then we went up to town to see King Befongo, whom he liked very well. Captain Jolly was the best man one could meet but his appearance did not correspond with his kind heart. He was beloved by all because he was just and never allowed anyone of his mates or sailors to treat the black crew on his steamer cruelly. He was a great friend of the blackmen and when someone spoke slightingly of them, he used to say, ‘Please go home to London and see how our own white people are. Don’t speak foolishly, we are not a bit better, we are worse.’ During the nights he was always on the bridge of his ship and never deviated from his duty. He was a captain of the old style, one who could be relied upon. Once I went home on another English steamer and noticed how different the discipline was on board that ship. The capt. played cards every night with some of the passengers. One of the young men on board came to me and complained that he had lost £40 that night in a game which he called ‘Nap’. The following day at the dinner table I announced that I considered this to be a kind of a Monaco,11 or small hell, where young and irresolute men were robbed of their earnings, and I told the captain that if he did not return the money that he had won during the past night, I would report him on our arrival to Liverpool. He was very much ashamed and returned the money to the young man and there were no more games played that trip. On his previous voyages he had been playing cards and one of the passengers had reported him to Mr. Jones, so when we arrived at the Mersey [Liverpool, England] he was dismissed from his service. It was quite right, because a gambler should never have the responsibilities of a pilot. On the German steamers they also played cards with money, a game called ‘Skat’, but they did not gamble, and the Captain did not take part. The food on board these steamers was generally very good but the life on board was not very interesting.

Editor’s Notes 1. Saker’s contribution has been widely documented, first by his daughter Emily in 1908 (reprinted 1929), and in, among other places, Victoria, Southern Cameroons, 1958, a volume produced in Victoria for its centenary celebrations by the then Senior District Officer, Wright, with help from E.W. Ardener and local Victorians. See also Ardener, S.G. 1968. Accounts of the establishment of Victoria, and reference to its early residents, including ‘Daddy Brew’ and Sam Steane, can be found in the latter two publications (1958 and 1968/1996). 2. Lewis wrote his own account of his days in Cameroon in 1930, which is extensively quoted in Ardener, S.G. 1968/1996. 3. George Grenfell married a girl from Victoria, Rose Patience Edgerley, and took her to the Congo, see Johnston 1908: 239. 4. For details of the sale see Ardener, S.G. 1968/1996. 5. Knutson intended to include photographs of Alfred Saker, T.J. Comber, W.H. Bentley, Thomas Lewis, C.H. Gollmer, James Vernoll and George Grenfell when he published his memoir, which he never did.

158

KNUT KNUTSON

6. This is where Knutson implies that he was writing up his text after the First World War. However, see p. 159 where he says “when the war is over”. 7. Respected or not, Sir Harry Johnston was detained by the people of Rio del Rey, who wanted to discourage penetration of the interior by expatriates, and had to be rescued by a party from the ‘Rifleman’. News of this episode reached Sweden. 8. See for example Ardener, E.W. 1996: 101–106. 9. George Allen probably came from Northumberland, England. He was a qualified doctor and member of the Royal Geographical Society. After leaving Cameroons he settled in South Africa (Johnston 1923: 184–5). 10. Carl Scholl discusses the use or misuse of quinine by the German traders in Douala in 1884, see Ardener, S.G. 1968/1996: 55n.33. 11. Monaco, a small independent state on the south coast of France, is still famous for its gambling casinos.

CHAPTER 12

The Future of the Cameroons

The future is always very difficult to judge about, but as I have lived a very long time in the Cameroons and think that I have a fairly intimate acquaintance with the people and the country I may have a certain right to freely express my opinion. I was in touch with the country and people almost before civilization had reached there. I know that neither the English nor the German Government would perhaps care about my advice. One of these powers I expect will keep the Cameroons as their colony when the war is over, but I am sure that the only way to make the people happy is a more humane and peaceful treatment. Many of the German authorities would say that the natives during the last years have been much better treated than before, but according to leading articles in the German newspapers, I have many times been sorry to notice that so has not been the case. Sometimes I have seen some very bad judgement in the German literary works about the Bakweri, which is a quite contrary opinion to my own. Really I was very surprised that these people, after twenty-five or thirty year, since I was there, have turned out so badly. Of course, there were during my time there some few bad men amongst them also, but generally I considered the Bakweri to have been very good and much better than many of the white men in the Cameroons at that time. The contact with the white race has mostly a very bad influence on the natives, and that for the following reason. The black men very soon get a taste for, and a certain love for, pleasure, and when they see the white man living in a wrong way they soon imitate him. They soon leave behind them all their own good morals and the principles from their parents’ and forefathers’ time. They are too old to go to the mission school and so they stay at a [white] farmer’s or with an official as laborers or servants. They notice and learn all the bad [? terms] and habits of their masters and when their time is finished they return to their towns and carry with them as a gift loose habits with contempt for their own old religion and customs and so they have an injurious influence on all their friends. I am sure that it has gone so with the population in some of the Bakweri towns.

160

KNUT KNUTSON

When Mr. Waldau and I were in Mapanja we found the population of the villages, where the English Baptist Missionaries had lived a long time and worked before us, to be generally good. But in Buea lived some natives who had been down to Mungo River and came in touch with the Cameroon people who had a bad influence on some of the young men from Buea. It is therefore of great importance that both the Government and the missionaries should hold an education control over the working men on the farms. I consider that a certain work time and also an obligatory school for the laborers should be of very great value for the future. I would call it a kind of social military service where Christian teachers should be employed. The India-rubber raids in the south of the colonies have spoiled many of the native carriers, and no doubt this way of working the interior has of course brought very much India-rubber, but ruined a good many people. I believe that it is better now than before, but the control cannot be very good in the interior, and if there is no control, then I am sorry for the natives. The white rubber-traders in the interior were not well known and many are the fearful stories that I have heard about those men. In the Congo the English and Swedish Missionaries have done a very useful work through the control which they have kept on the rubber-caravans, and they have through their energetic complaints altered the old fashion and tried to drive the old rubber robbers out of the Congo. The Bakweri up at the mountains are a tribe who have been very harshly treated by the former German Governor, von Puttkamer. During many hundred years they lived happily, but since their towns have been taken possession of by the white race they presume that they have been unjustly treated, and every honest man must say that this their opinion is true. I consider that the Cameroon Mountains should be a reserved territory from the height of 3,000 feet and up, where both the natives, the forests, the animals and plants should have the right to live their own life. No white man should be allowed without a permit to disturb the peace of the natives, the animals or the plants on the high mountains.1 The axes should not be allowed to be heard in the flourishing primeval forests, the antelopes on the plains should be hunted only by the free Buea and Mapanjamen with their flint guns as before. The hunters’ horns should make the woods ring again and the old huts should be rebuilt, and I am sure that the old times should return and with these the respect for the white race, which has respected and understood them. When once a traveller, be he English, Swedish or German, who has felt a love for the splendour of nature should wish to visit the grassy plains, the mountains and the forests around the Offakko [=fako, the grassy heights of the Cameroon Mountain, now given to the name of the whole mountain, and the district], he should have to get a permit from the Government down by the Coast and climb up together with some Bakweri to Mann’s Spring. There he should find that the Government has built up a small comfortable house for the use of naturalists and tourists.2 When he walks up on the top of the peak lying above Mann’s Spring and looks around the high mountains and over the fine forests, I am certain that he will praise the God who created all this magnificent scenery, which nature here has offered him and he will fall upon his knees and make the declaration, ‘I am so very, very insignificant.’ It would seem to him to be an enchanted world. But the

THE FUTURE OF THE CAMEROONS

161

scent from flourishing primeval forest, the song of the birds, the humming of thousands and thousands of bees, who take their food from the beautiful flowers, will remind him of life. Here the sinking sun kisses the sterile lava streams with her golden gleams which looks as if purple rivers were ever flowing through blooming meadows giving hope of a new coming day. A day with many repetitions of the finest scenery in the world. Should not that mountain be worth protecting? Restriction must be introduced to protect nature, but first of all it is necessary to protect the people. I should think the best thing to do would be to forbid the import of spirits. Many would say that the natives have their palm trees and can always very easily manage to procure it, they did so in the olden times. And that is quite true, but although I very seldom have seen a native drunk, I may state that the spirits in many cases would in the long run ruin them, because of its special low quality and owing to daily use, is very bad for their constitution. It ought to be forbidden in the whole of Africa to import spirits, for the simple reason that the statistics since the slave trade show that the Coast-population has diminished in a fearful way, owing to the use of intoxicants, and syphilis brought to them by the white men. I have before related about the Mapanja man who was killed at Victoria, who was also in relationship with Buea. The Mapanja and Buea people had sent some news down to the German Government in Victoria, that the white man who had committed the crime should be punished and a certain sum paid to the heirs of the deceased man. There was no consideration given to this question from the government and the matter was never proved, so this question stood open, which was a great mistake. Once, in the year 1888, six Mapanja men came down over the mountains to Bibundi, and I was told by the old King Befongo, in Bibundi, that I should warn my friend Mr. Nehber, who was director of a tobacco firm, to be careful as the men came down with the intention to kill him because the German Government had not settled the above-mentioned palaver. I told Mr. Nehber to keep close watch night and day, and if the men came I should speak with them. The men, who were old friends of Waldau and me, did come to me carrying with them the long flint guns and their cutlasses to my house. They were received by me in the most cordial manner. All of them had been travelling and hunting with me many a good day, and I invited them all to my table and they managed the fish and fresh meat very well. When we had finished our dinner, I gave them some clay pipes to smoke and then I said, Now my dear friends, what is the purpose of your making this very long trip over the mountains? I know you must feel tired, I have made the trip so I have experience of it. Of course, I am very glad to see you, but I suppose that you must have some reason for coming, being that you ask especially to see me. A friend has whispered in my ear that you have come here to kill my neighbour, who as you will have heard, lives here in Bibundi. He is a very good man, is also my intimate friend, and if you will remain as my friends you have altogether to give up that foolish plan. He has thirty men, all armed with breech loaders and you would have a very hot reception, I assure you. Besides, you are quite wrong in doing so.

162

KNUT KNUTSON

Mbua, my old friend from Mapanja, asked me to listen to the matter he now had to tell me. There was a very long story about Mr. Thomson, Comber, Grenfell, Waldau, Gustafsson, Ohlsson, and me. We had, he said, always treated the Bakweri so very well and that we never had any quarrel or row with the Mapanja people and Bakweri. Then he began to make a long speech about the man who had been killed by the German trader, asking me to state my opinion and write to the Governor about the matter. He said: ‘You know Mr. Knutson, we have the blood revenge amongst Bakweri, but in this case we would not carry that through, but the white man who committed the crime has to be punished by the Governor, all the Bakweri have the right to ask this.’ ‘The Governor or the murderer,’ he said, ‘has to pay the heirs of the deceased a certain amount of merchandise to settle the palaver.’ I told them that I considered it to be just and promised them to speak with the Governor which I also did, but without success. I strongly advised the people not to be foolish enough to do some act that they afterward would have to regret, as they knew the German authorities would punish them. But the eyes of the brother of the murdered man turned round, his body was shaking and he asked me that I should allow him to ask some questions. Then he said, ‘Tatta Kokko’ (‘My father and my friend)’, ‘if you had a brother and he had been murdered, would you not try to have the murderer punished?’. ‘Well’, I said, ‘certainly I would do so.’ ‘You see,’ he said, ‘I do not care for the money, only that the man who killed my brother will be punished, that’s what I want. I am satisfied as soon as he has been punished. And what is your opinion?’ [I replied] ‘My opinion is that the Germans have treated you wrong in this case and that I do not see the reason for doing so. I understand very well your feelings, but you may consider that the German people do not understand how to treat you, they have not been up the mountains, they have not lived amongst you, they cannot follow the hunting dogs, they do not know your customs and laws, they do not know Lobe, Ovasse and Mokasse; if they had known more about your Gods and your fashions they would have settled this case long ago. I have no power to help you, they are now the masters of the mountains, but I am sorry that they dealt with you wrongly.’ When Mbua said, ‘Well Massa, Bakweri will fight, not against the Swedish and the English nations which never treated them unjustly, but against the Germans.’ I advised them strongly not to do so, and they did not do anything then, but afterwards I heard that the Bakweri decided not to allow the Germans to live amongst them up the mountains. They did not kill any white man but they refused to receive the men of German nationality on the mountains. This refusal gave the Germans a pretext to begin a quarrel. The matter could have been settled with a few pounds sterling value, but the German Governor preferred the war. It was in 1894, in December, when v. Puttkamer came to the Cameroons. He had been there as Chancellor before and was well-known though not so ‘well known’. The war party amongst the German officials on the Cameroon river and the Major v. Stetten, known for hard treatment of the poor natives, and Captain Dominik now began to get wind in the sails. V. Puttkamer was a Governor after their taste and at once it was decided that Buea, the largest Bakweri town, should be destroyed. And at Christmas time, when the church bells were ringing peace and joy at home in England, Sweden and Germany, the town

THE FUTURE OF THE CAMEROONS

163

of Buea was burnt down and the inhabitants, men, women and children were killed by the soldiers. The poor natives were hunted like animals and killed everywhere they found them.3 Many of the Buea people could not understand for what reason the war had broken out, but they said that the principal cause was that v. P. wanted a cool and nice residence and because the soldiers should have some exercise and experience in killing black men. It is one of the greatest shames which has occurred on the West Coast of Africa during the last fifty years. I was at that time on my last visit to the Cameroons and I was so sorry when I heard of how the poor children had been killed, when they tried to hide themselves in the grass. No mercy was shown and the most bestial and unjust acts were performed by the rough black soldiers who were drilled by men who never thought of humane treatment. Many of the Germans on the Coast told me at that opportunity that this desperate war of extermination of the Buea people was the greatest shame in the German Colonial History and would always stamp von Puttkamer as one of the most tyrannical Governors of the West African Coast. On the ruins of the old lovely place where once the Buea town had been situated, the German Governor v. P. built up the Government House,4 a mission school and a hospital. It seems to me to be against both the natural and moral law to have done so. But down in the bush in a dark cave, followed by a few of his true men, the old proud and wild King Kuva died from grief. His last word was said to have been a curse upon the white race and especially over the German nation. No wonder! I consider him to have had the natural right to do so. For twenty years the Bakweri have daily called upon Mokasse to imprecate evil upon v. P. and his cruel men and it [makes one wonder why] their prayers have not been heard before now. Some of the German authors have complained about the difficulties of teaching the Bakweri, and about their low habits and I have also noticed some very hard words about this tribe, but these gentlemen have not considered the dark hate which had grown and still must live in the hearts of the Bakweri people. The knowledge of having been unjustly treated has in that people killed all love and interest for the culture which the white race has to offer. It is in my opinion very natural that the Bueas do not feel happy to see the conquerors established on the ruins of their former home. No man has been so hated by the Bakweri as v. P., and I am sure that when he went home, and the officials and the farmers gave a fine dinner for him, as I have heard, the natives began to sing about the olden happy days. Down in the forests live still many Bueas far from the hated civilization. Shall a time now come for them?5 Now at last a farewell to the Cameroon Mountains, to the Swamps, to the Bakweri, the antelopes, the birds and bees and flowers, to the whole majestic nature of that wonderful country and I hope that it shall not be very long before the Cameroon mountains reserved territory will be a declared fact.

Editor’s Notes 1. The Mountain has attracted international attention, especially from British and German aid agencies interested in conservation, biodiversity and sustainable forest management,

164

KNUT KNUTSON

in which the Cameroon Government and local communities now take an interest. However, indiscriminate cutting and uncontrolled grass burning remains a serious threat. 2. It is required that foreign (only?) visitors get such a permit to climb the mountain from the tourist office in Buea, which provides registered guides (not always Bakweri). In the dry season visitors come from abroad especially to climb the mountain. It has become known internationally for an annual race (sponsored by the Guinness company in 1973, and for some subsequent years, but now a national event) which attracts a large entry. A list of the race winners and their times, between 1973 and 1988 can be found, together with other details of the race, in Matute 1990: 225–35. The shortest time for running from Buea to the peak and back, between those dates, is given as an incredible 3 hours, 46 minutes and 34 seconds. It is now a common weekend activity for young Cameroonians, including those from Buea University, to climb on the mountain. Indeed, on one day in February 1997, it was reported that two hundred or more were on the path. I have seen a photograph of a winding line of people crossing the bare scree, very reminiscent of the picture of would-be prospectors crossing the snow in the Canadian Klondike taken in the last century. The 1999 race attracted some 500 runners. This is a big change from earlier days when Cameroonians and other Africans were generally reluctant to climb. In the 1950s and ’60s it was an activity sponsored by the then Man-O-War Bay Outwardbound adventure centre; during one trip there were deaths, possibly from hypothermia mixed with anxiety, of two youths on the course (see Dickson 1960). There are three huts on the trail; climbers often spend the night in one of the top two. The Mountain Hotel, and other guesthouses in Buea, meet the needs of visiting climbers. 3.

In 1997, Ndolo Mbwaye told me how her grandmother had run into the farms to hide on ‘Signal hill’, where the radio mast is, between Buea and Bokwaongo. A family member followed her with his pig, which he tried to hide in the undergrowth alongside. As the troops came to seek the fleeing people, the pig squealed and drew the fire of the soldiers, resulting in death. For a detailed account of the dramatic raid on Buea and its aftermath see, e.g., Ardener, E.W. 1996.

4. For an illustrated account of the house and gardens built by Puttkamer, see M. Field, The Old Lodge, Buea (first published as The Commissioner’s Lodge, (1969), reprinted (1969) as The Prime Minister’s Lodge). It is currently a Rest House for the President, but rarely visited. 5. The first Premier of the Southern Cameroons, when it was a United Nations Mandate administered by the British Government, was a Bakweri, a descendant of King Kuva, the late Dr E.M.L. Endeley. Indeed, the Bakweri were quick to take advantage of education and the acquisition of technical skills. After a long period when they were (wrongly – see E.W. Ardener in Ardener, Ardener and Warmington 1960) thought to be apathetic, they have assumed a greater prominence in public affairs (but less so, perhaps, in business activities) than their small numbers would expect. Currently the Prime Minister of the Cameroon State, is Mr. Peter Musonge, who is from a village on the Mountain, near Buea. The Vice-Chancellor of Buea University, Mrs Dorothy Njeuma, is from Soppo. There are many other prominent, some highly educated, Bakweri contributing to their own communities and to public life (Njeuma 2000).

PART III

Land and Plantations Shirley Ardener

CHAPTER 1

Knutson and Waldau’s Contracts with the Notables on the Cameroon Mountain

Among Knutson’s papers are photocopies of typed versions of some of the original contracts which Knutson and Waldau made with the representatives of the various villages whose lands they were ‘buying’. Some of their tracts of land were vested later in their company, which, as Waldau explains, were finally sold to a German company of which he was a part (see III, 2). These lands were registered in April 1897, after Knutson had left Cameroon. It was then that the Swedes learnt from Puttkamer that their land claims were not recognized as valid. It should be said here that the Bakweri notables, when making their ‘marks’ on the land documents, would not have understood alienation or ownership of land in the same way as the Swedes. The chiefs probably thought they were giving away the right of use only, which would establish a long-term relationship which would be reflected in further remuneration or other advantages for them over the years, so long as the ‘strangers’ remained on the land. They may have envisaged the opening of a channel for a flow of valued imported goods. As Zöller clearly documents, they did sense that documents and flags had great significance of some sort, and did not do so lightly. But at that time the Bakweri could have had no clear idea that those few written words and gifts and the raising of a flag could have the consequence that followed. Moreover, neither they nor the Swedes could have envisaged circumstances on the Mountain today, nor that the sale of the plantation lands to expatriates would again be under consideration at the turn of the millenium. Nor that the French, who were not local players at the time, but whose trading activity further south was causing concern (see e.g. Ardener, S.G. 1968), would be among those who might be interested in them. The contracts are valuable documents, not only for details of the transactions themselves, but because they give early documentary evidence of the names of chiefs and other notables of that time. I cannot here confidently identify all of these people, and give the modern, or phonetic, spellings of all their names, and I mostly refrain from informed guessing. It is hoped that their descendants, now

SHIRLEY ARDENER

168

three or four – perhaps five – generations later, will be pleased to identify them from their own oral sources. Although the contracts are only typescript copies, we do know what one actually looks like – that concerning the ‘purchase’ of Buea in 1887, for the original pencilled version, written on a small piece of paper, has survived and is in the Cameroon National Archives. Edwin Ardener has considered the words of this agreement and has discussed their implications in detail, for this little document formed the basis for rights claimed by the Germans to build a station at Buea and to establish plantations – rights which are regarded as controversial in Buea today. He has also made identifications of the signatories (see Ardener 1996: 70–78, 117–25, Annexe C, 132–1401). Although, apart from that relating to Buea land, I have not seen the original contracts, there is no need to doubt the authenticity of the wording on these copies. The contract with the people whom the Swedes knew best (and to whose subsequent chief, in 1978, Knutson’s son sent his father’s memoir) reads as follows: We subscribers hereby make acknowledge, that we in conformity with the wish of the people of Mapanja town have sold the Mapanja town and whole the territory of Mapanja to Mess:rs Knut Knutson and Georg Waldau who from the day of date are the legal and legitimate owners and masters of the named country. Whole the payment being as follow: Six (6) pieces cloth à 24 fathoms Three (3) " tablecloth Three (3) " umbrellas is paied [sic] Mapanja the 24:th December 1884 King X Mossaso Chief Chief Mosingi X Lewunjo X J.A. Gustafsson Mbua Jack

Three days later a similar treaty was signed with the people of Lecumbi [identified by Chief Efange as Likombe] who ‘sold’ their town for Five (5) pieces cloth à 24 fathom Five (5) " " " 1 fathom Five (5) heads tobacco

The signatories who made their marks on 27 December were King Junje, Chief Assamalli, Chief Finja, Chief Mongamelli, Chief Monjongo, and the witnesses were Mbua and the Swede J.A. Gustafsson. According to Zöller (see IV, 6 below), soon after, under threats and in a state of some understandable bewilderment, significantly the chiefs attempted to return these goods, and cancel the agreement, while wisely refusing to sign any other undertaking. On 5 January 1885 the German journalist Hugo Zöller arrived in Mapanja. His vivid account (ibid.) of what took place over the next few days puts flesh – almost blood – on the bones of these contracts. He implies that he helped to write some, at least, of these contracts. One clue to this is the puzzling name of one of the wit-

KNUTSON AND WALDAU’S CONTRACTS

169

nesses: Mbua, sometimes Mbua Mocki. One assumes that he is the Swedes’ faithful interpreter, host and travelling companion: M’boe to Knutson and Mbua to Waldau and Zöller. But he is usually given as M’Boe Mosekao by Knutson, not Mocki. If it is he, then the spelling of his name implies that either Waldau or Zöller wrote the texts. On 9 January Zöller’s name appears, along with Jack [Mosekao], Molla and Mbua, as a witness to the sale of Bwassa. We should take note that this contract exempts houses, palmtrees, farms and other private properties from the sale, to which King Muimba and King Musinge agreed by making their marks. In this case there is no record on the available copy of the goods, if any, which were transferred. We do not have the contract which the Swedes made with the people of Boanda, but there is a hand-written text in Knutson’s papers whereby the village is taken under the German flag by Kärcher (of the battleship ‘Bismarck’); it is almost identical to that given in Knutson’s memoir. Certainly the guiding hand of Zöller, conscious of the proximity of the German officials in whose name he was acting, is almost visible here. Bonatanga was visited by the Swedes on 31 July that year, where an agreement (similar to that given below for Basse) was made by King Mokasse, Chief Esomboe and Chief Nimbi, who made their marks to acknowledge receipt of ‘goods to a value of six (6) Pounds sterling’. Chief Efange suggests that Bonatanga refers to the village of Boniamatange, or Woniamatanga (‘Children of Matanga’) – said to be a small village near Batoke, situated in an area of the present Cameroon Development Corporation palm plantation called Topline. Like the settlement of Mbase, it is no longer inhabited. It was another busy day for the Swedes, because on the same day King Tonde, and Chiefs Njo, Njia and Efome also agreed to a similar contract, and in return for £8 in goods signed away Elundu. Chief Efange suggests that Elundu, of which there is now no trace, was a settlement of Balundu people who had moved south in search of work. On Knutson’s map it is next to Etame. The following day, the first day of August 1885, Knutson and Waldau signed up with the people of Basse. Chief Peter Efange thinks that ‘Basse’ probably refers to the village of Mbase at the foot of Mount Etinde (or Small Cameroon Mountain). This village is now extinct most of the inhabitants having moved off to Batoke. The contract was ‘signed’, nevertheless, by a ‘King’ and five ‘Chiefs’, which suggests it was then well populated. It included the exception regarding property; the copy reads: We the undersigned hereby declare that we in conformity with the wish of the people of Basse we have sold to Messrs. Knut Knutson and Georg V. Waldau whole the territory of Basse and that from the day of date the said gentlemen are the legal and legitimate owners of the territory of Basse. The houses, palmtrees, farms and other private property the people of Basse shall be possessed of furtheron as they have been up to this day. Done in three copies this first day of augusteighteen hundredandeightyfive [sic] at the town of Basse. Interpreter: Mbua Mocki

King Moimbe X His Mark

SHIRLEY ARDENER

170

Witnesses: Jack Mosekaoa Madibe Botani

Chief Eomboe X His Mark Chief Eoangi X His Mark Chief Madibe X His Mark Chief Kangui X His Mark Chief Esongo X His Mark

Whole the payment we have today become in goods to a value of eleven (11) Pounds Sterling. Basse, 1:st August 1885 King Moimbe X His Mark Chief Eomboe X His Mark Chief Eoangi X His Mark Chief Madibe X His Mark Chief Kangui X His Mark Chief Esongo X His Mark

On the same day Etome fell to the two Swedes. King Bove made his mark, and was followed by Chief Ngale, Chief Mafotako, Chief Lionue and Chief Ekome. They also made marks to affirm receipt of ‘goods to a value of nine (9) pounds sterling’, a transaction witnessed by Jack Mosekao and Madibe Botani. A hand-written copy of a text, dated sixteen days later, officially ratifies the contracts made by Knutson and Waldau concerning some of these villages. We may note that here, in contrast to the brief wording of the aforementioned contracts, certain additional protections for the villagers and third parties are included:

KNUTSON AND WALDAU’S CONTRACTS

171

It is hereby officially certified that according to the four agreements deposited in the chancery of the Kamerun Government, Messrs Kanut Knutson and Georg Waldau have, under the following conditions, acquired the territories of Bonatanga, Bassa [Mbase], Etom [Etome] and Elundu, thus becoming their property. 1) Rights of third persons reserved. 2) Previous commercial and friendly agreements to retain their validity. 3) The sites of the towns and villages and their inhabitants to remain their property. 4) The Chieftains to be allowed to levy their taxes as before. 5) In the beginning the customs & habits of the inhabitants to be respected. Imperial German Governor of Kamerun,

Kamerun, 16 August 1885 The Governor

representing v. Puttkamer

The fees for this deed (10 Mark) have been paid into the Governmental Treasury R.d. 16 August 1885

The ‘whole territory of Bomana’2 passed into Swedish hands a few weeks later, when King Mokondo, King Efokane, King Sake, King Donge, and the Chiefs Nbome, Evinge, Etome, Elive, Bove, Itumbe agreed on 9 September to accept goods to the value of twenty-six pounds sterling. J.A. Gustafsson was a witness this time, as was Sam Mosimbe, who made his mark. The next transaction of which we have the contract was made at the coast with the people of Sangi [Sanji, Sanje]. To meet the different terrain the contract read as follows: We the undersigned hereby declare that in conformity with the wish of the people of Sangi we have sold to Messrs. Knut Knutson and Georg V. Valdau a five hundred feet broad space of land lying at the north shore of the stream Lisa and having a length of nine hundred feet counted from the mouth of the named stream. We also declare that from the day of date the said gentlemen are the legal and legitimate owners of the named space of land. Done in three copies this eleventh day of September eighteenhundred and eightyfive [sic] at the town of Sanga. Interpreter: Mbua Mocki

King Motoe X His Mark King Ekelenge X His Mark

Witnesses: J.A. Gustafsson Sam Mosimbe His X Mark

Chief Elive X His Mark Chief Eombe X His Mark Chief Teke X His Mark Chief Ngoe X His Mark

172

SHIRLEY ARDENER

Chief Bangi X His Mark Whole the payment we have this day become in goods to a value of seven (7) Pounds Sterling. Sangi, 11:th September

As usual the chiefs agreed that payment had been received and put their marks. Eight days later King Masoke and Chief Dionga of Ekonjo put their marks to a contract accepting the same terms as had the people of Mapanja (see above), and (before two witnesses, Mbue [Mbua] Mocki and Carl Pettersson) ‘sold’ their ‘private landed property Bevonge [Vefonge] in Batoki’ on the nineteenth of September to the two Swedes for goods to the value of seven pounds sterling. Less than a month later, according to a hand-written text, The Imperial Governor acknowledged this contract: Not. Reg. No I Title Deed for Messrs G.V. Waldau & Kanut Knutson. It is hereby officially certified that according to the purchase contract No I deposited in the chancery of the Imperial Government Messrs G.V. Waldau and Kanut Knutson have become the legal and sole proprietors of the Ekunjo [Ekonjo] territory. Kamerun 18th January 1886 Imperial German Governor of Kamerun

The Imperial Governor v. Soden

(Fees 15. Mk.) Free of charge! 18.1.86. Dr. Krabbes.

Furthermore, on the same 18 January Soden signed several similar confirming letters: Contract No 2 regarding the proprietorship of Bwassa, No 3 regarding Bomana territory, No.4 for Batoki. Contract No. 6 which related to Sanji (Sanje) did not name it, but referred to ‘the tract which is situated and extends 500 ft. in width on the Northern shore of Lisa River, and, calculated from the mouth of the same, 900 ft. in length’. The contract (Not.Reg.No.8) for Mapanja and contract 9 for Lekumbi followed the pattern for Boando quoted above. The existence of the originals of these letters was confirmed in a letter by The Imperial German General Consul in Stockholm, V. Eckerdt, on 9 July 1894 (see memoir). Thus the Germans were clearly formally informed of these contracts. It was on Christmas Eve 1894 that King Litanga and King N. Galle [sic] ‘in accordance with the wishes of the people of Ekundje town’ sold the town and ‘the whole territory’ to Knutson and Waldau for ‘one (1) pice cloth a 24 fathom’ [sic] and one other piece a 4 fathoms length’, before the witnesses, Mbua, Jack [Mosekao] and Jef. Gustafassen [sic]. We might note here, when considering all the treaties made in this area, that Bonjongo (Wonjongo) was not mentioned, although this village group has for

KNUTSON AND WALDAU’S CONTRACTS

173

many years been bigger than Mapanja (otherwise Mafanja) and that some of the other villages mentioned by Knutson have even disappeared. It was in Bonjongo that Quintin Thompson established a Baptist mission in 1872, and a Baptist church is to be found on that site, below Chief Efesoa’s house, today.3 Later the Catholic Mission established a large complex, including a Church in Upper Bonjongo. It was probably because of the prior arrangements with the missionaries that the Swedes left Bonjongo out of it. Knutson was to give an explanation for the low prices offered to the villagers, suggesting it was done at the request of the German authorities (see below). Nevertheless, given what today look like gifts of such paltry value (though as imported materials they were, no doubt, assessed differently at the time) Knutson’s later concern for the value of his lands (which will now be dealt with) cannot but seem questionable.

Notes 1. The prominence of Letongo in Knutson’s and Zöller’s accounts is notable (cf. the discussions in Ardener, E.W. 1996). 2. Bomana is marked twice on Dusén’s map. 3. Today Bonjongo consists of four families: Wogbele (which includes Ndiv’ a Eko), Wonya Eko (to which Chief Efesoa belongs), Wonya Esoko and Wonya Motombe (source Chief Efesoa). Knutson sometimes mentions men of Mapanja and Bonjongo in the same breath – they include N’boene, Molue, Mokomea, Bello, Malumbe, Sam, Njie or Njia, and M’Boe. The appellation Molla could refer to Mola, literally meaning ‘uncle’, but used respectfully for older men.

CHAPTER 2

Knutson’s Legal Battles

Knutson’s correspondence as he embroiled himself in law over his lands throws more light on the original transactions. Knutson’s correspondence1 documents his determination, even his obsession, to get legal title to the Swedes ‘private lands’ in Cameroon. He may not have felt so keen had what he claimed reverted to the original Bakweri owners; what must have galled him was that other expatriates were benefiting from them. Some of the Knutson materials are in Swedish, but because of the international history of the area (see Edwin Ardener’s Kingdom on Mount Cameroon, for example) much of his correspondence was in English. Some texts are missing, but here some idea of the problem can be given from statements, of various dates, made by himself and Waldau, and from other documents, of various dates, which he supplied to his legal advisers who restated them in their formal legal opinions. Over the years he consulted specialists not only in Sweden but in Berlin, London and even Lagos (since, after the establishment of the League of Nations Mandate – later to become a United Nations Trusteeship – the Cameroons were effectively administered by British Colonial Service officers based in Nigeria). His efforts continued for about forty-six years, mainly spent back home in Sweden. His last great attempt, in the 1920s, was sparked off by the auctioning in 1922 and 1924 of former German-owned plantations confiscated by the British in wartime, which were then being administered by the Custodian of Enemy Property. The 1922 auction which excluded German bids having failed, the 1924 auction permitted many of the former German owners to repurchase their estates.2 The main grounds on which the Germans refused to recognize Waldau’s claims were, firstly, that the lands had not been formally registered in the land register, or ‘ground book’, and, secondly, that they had not been put into productive use within four years, as the local land law required. Hunting and gathering were specifically excluded as ‘use’ (see Rudin 1938). Knutson’s archives contained a copy of Soden’s 1888 ordinance, though how long he had had it is not clear.

SHIRLEY ARDENER

176

Documents show clearly that from very early on Knutson was unhappy with the behaviour of the Germans. Later, in an undated copy of a letter he wrote to Dr Arthur E. Rosenthal of Berlin, he dealt with the last of these objections: Mr Hugo Zöller a reporter for the Kolnischer Zeitung can second the evidence of witnesses who confirm that we have had buildings in Mapanja for the production of rubber.

Answering what may have been a jibe, Knutson goes on: That the claims in the course of time have become superannuated appears to me rather strange, as already in 1898 I placed the matter (through the mediation of our Minister) before the German Colonial Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin, and personally sent the complaint to the Imperial Chancellor on the 20th October 1900, which you will see by the included letters, as well as the postal order receipts. I must also mention that we had bought a part of ground already before the occupation of Kamerun territory by the Germans, and that we were promised that we should enjoy all possible privileges if we would place our property under the protection of the German Empire.

There can be no doubt, on the surviving evidence, that Knutson did indeed take many precautions to get confirmation of his land deals, and that Germans recognized them in various ways. If, instead of processing rubber gathered from wild vines he had also planted vegetation of one kind or another, he might have won his case. Waldau (who sold all his lands to Knutson on 5 June 1899) supported Knutson. Indeed, at one point he was given power of attorney to make representations to the British on Knutson’s behalf.3 A copy of an important, hand-written, statement made by Waldau on 23 July 1926 deals with the first German objection and sums up Waldau’s own understanding of events: For many years there was no Ground-book [Grundbuch] in Cameroons, only a register of all the different groundproperties [sic]. As security for the owners till a Ground-book could be opened the Government gave to the owners Title-deeds (Besitztiteln) on their properties. In beginning of year 1897 the Swedish firm Knutson, Valdau and Afrikanska Handelsaktielslag sold all its properties to a newly founded German Company [The Deutsche Westafrikanische Handelsgesellschaft, of Hamburg – of which Waldau was the mandatory – see below]. The territories belonging to the said Swedish firm should be transferred to the German Company and at the same time be registered in the Ground-book, which had not yet been done. In April 1897 I went over to Duala and got those registrations made. At the same time I tried to get my own and Mr. Knutson’s private territories on the Cameroons Mountains registered in the Ground-book. Governor von Puttkamer then told me that our Title-deeds were not more valid. The government had never informed us of that which of course they ought to have done in writing and with explanations. During the unrest between 1887–1895 we did not need any native overseers on our properties, as we were out there ourselves all the time. Our headquarters and shipping place was till 1892 Bibundi, later Rio-del-Rey. From Bibundi to Victoria is 3 hours, from Rio del Rey to Victoria about 10 hours per steamer. 1890 and 1891 Dr P. Dusén was measuring up and making maps of our properties in Mokundange, Bonatanga, Batoki, Elundu, Basse and Etomi. I do not understand the question: ‘Does he (Waldau) mean by this that he still had the intention of going back to them?’ (the properties). We had never given up our properties, had all the time been staying close to them, had measured up a part of them and had still the intention to make a plantation (with harbour in Mokundange) when the unrest was over, and therefore I tried in April 1897 to get our properties registered in the groundbook. It was then I for the first time got to know that the Government had given (or sold) to the new big companies Westafrikanische Pflanzungsgesellschaft Bibundi the most of

KNUTSON’S LEGAL BATTLES

177

our properties. Those companies were then already working but when they began to cultivate our properties, I do not know, but it was surely not before 1900. Järsöbaden, the 23. July 1926 G. Waldau The identity of the signature of Mr. G. Waldau confirm at the same time present witnesses: [The names of the witnesses are not on the available photocopy].

It is not surprising that the Swedes had felt confident about their lands. There is an interesting document in Knutson’s archives which gives implicit recognition to the Swedes’ ownership. This document makes reference to the responsibilities expected of the two Swedes by the Germans: Bokowange 12th February 1885 Kommando S.M.S. Bismarck J. No. 588. Messrs Knutsson & Waldau Mapanje. I respectfully request you immediately to inform the German government should unrest of any kind arise in the tracts now belonging to you, and placed under the German supremacy, or should any persons from none German territory [sic] take any liberties of any kind whatever. Simultaneously I authorize you to arrest S.S. Rogozinski and hand him over to the German Authorities in Kamerun should the aforesaid be found on German territory. Kärcher Kapitain zur See. und Kommandant.

On 17 April 1926 Knutson writes to his adviser Victor Carlson, a member of the Swedish bar, who had sought advice from a London law firm, about the price obtained for some plots of land auctioned in November 1924: Stockholm den 17. April 1926 Dear Mr. Carlsson Re letter from Mr. Gilbert W.F. Dold. The value of soil. I presume that the territories sold by auction in November 1924 to 1./.6 per acre were probably from the Mangroveland in Rio del Rey-N’dian, Massake and Meme estuaries. These lots were in the Auction-list enumerated 34-61. This price is ridiculous low and very much less to that, what my Swedish Firm (Knutson, Valdau & Heilborn) Stockholm, sold it to the German firm 1896. The territories belonging to me and situated on the Cameroon-Mountain has a quite other value. About the value of the ground I have wired Mr. Valdau to Tenerife, but perhaps he has already [left] that place for Spain. I remember that 1888 I was offered for Sanji o:a 10 acres by a German Gentleman the price of £200. – but I wouldn’t accept it. This place I have heard has been sold by the English Government to a Mulatto by name Christian.

SHIRLEY ARDENER

178

Do you not believe that some people in London who has been out there could give an idea of what the present price is per acre. Without further today I remain

Epale notes that Idenau was the only property bought at the auction ‘by an Englishman, a Mr Christian, who after commencing operations in February 1923 died on 2 January 1924 at Idenau, causing a setback in the company’s prospects.’ (Epale 1985: 79). Correspondence in the Buea archives document Christian’s dismay at the condition of the plantation he had bought, including that of the living quarters (for which a pathetic inventory is included); everything had deteriorated as a result of neglect after the previous German owners were forced to leave. In fact a Mr. Treen Hart (who may have been English) bought Lots I and 17, which included land claimed by Knutson, but he sold it to the German-owned Fakko Pflanzunsgesellschaft, said to probably be a holding company. An undated hand-written letter in Knutson’s files to a Dr Arthur E. Rosendahl again discusses the knotty question of the price of land: Dr. Arthur E. Rosendahl. I am in receipt of your esteemed letter of the 12th inst. and have carefully noted the contents. As I have heard and from what can be proved by the inclosed card the German Governor in Kamerun is said to have sold my tracts of ground at a given price of 5 Mk per Hektar to Mr. Oechelhaüser. According to the statement of the previous Manager in Africa Mr. Rakow, (at present in Germany) the British Plantation Company laid out a plantation in Mokundange under the supposition that this district had been sold to the Plantation Company according to a Bill of Sale which had been concluded in 1886 with the natives. Mr. Waldau has also confirmed Mr. Rakow’s statement to me but it has since proved that Mr. Oechelhäuser had acquired the Mokundange district from the deceased Mr. Edward Schmidt. Mr. Schmidt bought Mokundange at the same time I bought Boando, and afterwards sold it to Mr. Oechelhäuser. The latter had therefore previous rights, which, although he had done nothing there, he was assigned the territory and in addition to this, received 1800 Hektar from my grounds in Bonatanga, Etome, Elunda, and as far as Bässa. From what I have been told Mr. Oechelhaüser has afterwards sold these grounds at a considerably higher price. Although, as previously mentioned, we have worked a long time in this my district, no consideration whatever has been shown us regarding this, but our ground has been most unjustly taken from us. About half of the large district of Bomana which belonged to us, has been sold by the Governor to Bibundi Plantation Company, although already in 1886 we taught the inhabitants in Bomana the art of producing rubber, and in spite of the fact that we had traded for a considerable time at the place. From my ground the Government has still got about the half of Bomana, a part of Upper Boando and the upper part of Ekundjo, Mapanja, as Bwassa. We had taken possession of the district mentioned already before Kamerun became a German possession, had several houses in Mapanja which we used for trading purposes and Mr. Waldau and I have taught the inhabitants the art of producing rubber. So it can never be disputed that we have not utilized our possessions. On the contrary through our activity we have been the means of placing much money in the German Government’s pocket, as the India rubber Tree as well as the method of producing rubber in the Kamerun district was first discovered and developed by Mr. Waldau and myself. This can easily be proved by witnesses. The purchase sum for this ground has been fixed by the government – so low because it anticipated that I should be satisfied with a trifle should a dispute ever arise between the government and myself. I estimate the value of the ground as follows: Beronge [Befonge?], Bonatanga, Bwasse, Ekundu Etome 1000 Mark a 75000 (etc, etc, etc)[sic]

KNUTSON’S LEGAL BATTLES

179

In addition to this, the expenses which have arisen here by reason of the German Government’s request for surveying, mapping etc, of a part of my ground. These expenses I have calculated for the grounds Bewonge [Befonge], Bonaganga [Bonatanga], Buasssa [Bwasssa], Etome and Elunda [Elundu]. These grounds are the best and very valuable at least 100 Mark per Hector. I will however not fix higher prices, as it is not unlikely that the Government will try to reduce the value of my property. Neither Mr. Waldau nor I were informed that the German government had confiscated our ground, [...4] in the Colonial Newspaper of 8/6 1895: p.181. 1) It is said that the two oldest German firms (Woermann, Jantzen, and Thormählen) and the Swedish Firm in Rio del Rey own almost all the ground from Rio del Rey to the River Campo. Regarding the more Northern and Middle parts, the administration will have many difficulties to overcome on examining the European claims. 2) Furthermore, a long article in the Colonial Newspaper [= Kolonial Zeitung] of the 1/8 1896 under the rubric ‘the settling of the ground question in Kamerun’ (kindly look it up yourself in Berlin). 3) As a proof that our ground is excellent, I inclose an official certificate from Messrs Rechts, and Commercial Chemist John Lardis who already in 1892 analized samples of our soil. 4) Professor Wollhan [Wohltman] in his book ‘The laying out of Plantations in Kamerun and its future’, writes that the soil of the Kamerun Mountain is regarded as being exceptionally fertile vide Colonial Magazine No 36. d. 5 Sept. 1896. In the Colonial Magazine of 1/2 1896 it is published, after peace having been restored in Kamerun the erection of a statue has been begun.5 One therefore sees that the government would not even build a station there. I have now told you as much as possible and I hope that the German Government will finally come to the insight that they cannot put me off without a suitable compensation. If a German in Sweden has once obtained a Deed of Property, then one cannot take it away without well founded reasons. Awaiting your favourable communication I remain Yours faithfully Knut Knutson

In 1926 advice was sought from Professor Wolff in Berlin. Meanwhile at home, Knutson’s Swedish legal representative and his partner, had been in correspondence with their legal advisers in London, and planned a visit there: Victor Carlson Member of the Swedish Bar Association, Olof Hakansson, Counsel of the Royal Swedish Board of Waterfalls. Barristers & Solicitors.

Stockholm, 19th April, 1926.

Gilbert Dold. Esq. 1, Mitre Court Buildings, Temple, London, E.C.4. Dear Mr Dold re Mr Knutsson’s case. I am in receipt of your letters of 12th and 14th inst. with documents, and hereby enclose copies of Deeds of Sale from the Native chiefs and of the Certificates and Deeds of Property from the German Governors.

SHIRLEY ARDENER

180

I beg to fix your attention to the fact that the title deeds were apparently entered in the Land Register because on all deeds are printed ‘Not. Reg. Nr 1 etc’. The First Land Register is said to have been destroyed by Mr Leist6 after having been dismissed by the German Government. After that time the Germans got a new Land Register. I also enclose the correspondence between the Swedish and British foreign Office and a letter from Mr Knutsson and a statement made by him several years ago which may be of interest to you. I wrote immediately to Professor Wolff asking him to send his statement directly to you. I shall write more fully to you tomorrow. I am coming to London on May 3rd, and leave Stockholm of [sic] April, 30th, and if you want to get any further information from me, please write to me in time. Yours sincerely, (Sgd) Victor Carlson.

The solicitor whom Carlson consulted, Gilbert W.F. Dold, obtained the legal opinion of Sir Joseph Numan, KC and Mr D. Campbell Lee. Their ‘Case for Opinion’ dated 3 May, but type-written in April, answered six questions, of which only two are given here: (3)

(6)

If an action is launched in the proper Court before the 15th June, 1926, will it be in time, [marginal note: ‘yes’] or has a shorter period of limitation than 30 years been introduced into the Cameroons under the British Mandate, [marginal note: ‘no’] and, if so, what would its effect be on the present case? Has the Supreme Court of Nigeria jurisdiction over the lands in question? [marginal note: ‘Yes. Action must be brought thus.’] (1) for trespass against the occupiers (2) by Petition of right against Govt for decln of the title or selling value

On 14 May 1926 a brief was sent to Messrs Irving and Bonnar of Barclay’s Chambers in Lagos which gives a very useful summing up of this long saga. In view of Bakweri interest in the land question this has been included in an endnote.7 It seems that all these efforts went in vain. A passage in the archives reads as follows: In May 1926 Knutson applied through his London solicitors to the Colonial Office in London for compensation but this again with no result. In June, 1926, proceedings were commenced in Lagos against the Government of Nigeria and in August, 1926, proceedings were also taken in Calabar against the persons who bought the lands from the Government. The Proceedings in Calabar were stayed pending the result of the case against the Government. The Government have won in both Courts in Nigeria, but Knutson has applied for leave to appeal to the Privy Council, and this has been granted subject to the necessary security for the costs of the Government. The opinion of Dr. Wolff of Berlin is that the whole of the confiscatory measures of the old German Government is illegal and void, and the opinion of Sir Joseph Nunan, K.C., and Mr. D. Campbell Lee, of the English Bar, is that the sale by the Nigerian Government in 1924 is also illegal and void. If these opinions should be uphold [sic] by the Privy Council, there can be no doubt of the strength of Knutson’s case.

The extract referred to the powers of the Governor and Commander-in Chief.8 A file in the National Archives at Buea (File No. Qf/a (1927) 1a – Land Case Knutzon vs W.A.P.V.) shows him taking WAPV to Court in the Divisional Court at Calabar, in September 1926. He is now asking for £1,000 compensation for

KNUTSON’S LEGAL BATTLES

181

lands formerly known as Boando, Bonatanga, Ekundjo, Mapanja, Lekumbi and Bwassa, now known as the Victoria Molyko Estates. The writ is served on the temporary representative of the company Director Herbst on 13 November. Now the German plantation companies and the British began to work together. The Manager of Bibundi Aktiengesellschaft, writing from Mokundange on 27 May 1927, passed on a letter received from Hamburg to the Resident in Buea. It read: President: Glahn, Assessor Before me, this day there has appeared Mr. Georg Wilhelm von Waldau, merchant in Rio del Rey, who deposed as follows: In accordance with the purchase contract handed in previously, the whole of property of the late Firm Knutson, Waldau & Heilborn’s Africanisk Handelssactiebolag has been transferred to the newly constituted company entitled the Deutsche-Westafrikanische Handelsgesellschaft m.n.H. Hamburg. The statutes of the said Company can be seen from the statutory conditions of the Company in like manner already handed in. According to the power of attorney dated 21st November, 1896, I am constituted the mandatary of the new firm, as I was of the old one. There further appeared Emil Baumann, merchant, of Dresden, and depos[missing letters] in agreement with Mr. Waldau that the new Company proposed ent[missing] I now herewith explicitly make the following declaration of surrender: 1) I, the identical Georg Waldau herewith apply for the registration of the said DeutschWestafricanische Handelsgesellschaft m.n.H., Hamburg, being entered in the land register as the new owner of the estates registered in the Cameroons land register XX, vol1, fol. 13, 87 and 88, together with all the appurtenances thereto. 2) I, the identical George Waldau herewith apply for the registration of the said Deutsch-Westafrikanische Handelsgesellschaft m.n.H. afresh, as just consented to, and as newly constituted, as the owners, in the land register, in virtue of my powers as the representative of the said Company. Compared, read, and signed George v.Waldau. There further appeared Emil Baumann, merchant, of Dresden, and depos[letters missing9] in agreement with Mr. Waldau that the new Company proposed ent[ering] their entire landed estates in the Cameroons in the land regi[stering] and permission was given to the declarants to make the requi[red ap]plications to the registrar, subjoining all necessary [the rest is missing]

Knutson lost the case in the Calabar Court, of course. On 27 April 1928 Resident Arnold, hearing in Lagos that Knutson was considering appealing to the Privy Council admitted that the Nigerian Government and the Colonial Office were ‘deeply interested in securing that Knutson’s appeal shall fail, because if it succeeded heavy damages would be payable either to Knutson in lieu of his estates or to the present Plantation Companies for giving up the lands they have bought.’ He noted that Herbst, who was going to Europe, was ‘willing and able to explain both in London and Berlin exactly what may be required’ and furnished him with letters of introduction. The forces were marshalling against Knutson. For more than forty years Knut Knutson had persisted with his case. Having lost his cause in Lagos, he persisted and went ahead with his appeal to the Privy Council. In 1929 the three Lords reviewing his appeal had the last word:

182

SHIRLEY ARDENER

Privy Council appeal No. 72 of 1928. Knut Knutson – – – – – – – – – – – – Appellant v. The Attorney-General – – – – – – – Respondent FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF NIGERIA. ————————— JUDGMENT OF THE LORDS OF THE JUDICIAL COMMITTEE OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL, DELIVERED THE 7TH NOVEMBER, 1929. ————————Present at the Hearing LORD BLANESBURGH. LORD WARRINGTON OF CLYFFE. SIR CHARLES SARGANT. [Delivered by SIR CHARLES SARGANT.] ————————In order to succeed on this appeal, it is, of course, necessary for the appellant to show that the allegations in his statement of claim are sufficient to raise a sustainable cause of action against the Crown. And for this purpose the first, and perhaps the most crucial, question to be determined is whether there is to be found in the claim an allegation, either express or by necessary intendment, that the land in question ever came into the possession of the Crown or of some agent for the Crown. Now, in the statement of claim itself, there is a singular absence of any allegation as to possession. In that document there is no averment that the appellant ever acquired any possession of the land, still less that he was in possession in the year 1916, when the British forces occupied the country, or in the year 1924, when the sale by the Nigerian Custodian of Enemy Property took place. The statement of claim is quite consistent with the assertion by the appellant of a mere paper title to the land, entirely divorced from any kind of possession. Further, the statement of claim nowhere alleges that the Crown or any alleged agent of the Crown, or even the Nigerian Custodian of Enemy Property, ever took possession of the land. The nearest approach to such an allegation is to be found in the averment in para. 9 of the claim that ‘in November, 1924, the Nigerian Custodian of Enemy Property, by the authority of a proclamation of the Governor of Nigeria, approved by His Majesty’s Secretary of State for the Colonies, caused the aforesaid lands to be sold by auction in London.’ This in itself is obviously not a sufficient allegation of possession. And, even if the reference to the proclamation is enough to bring into the statement of claim the whole of the provisions of the proclamation, those provisions themselves do not go beyond a vesting of the land in the Custodian and a direction that he shall sell – provisions which do not involve any vesting in him of possession or any taking by him of possession. The whole of the duties of the Custodian under the proclamation could be performed without possession; and therefore no allegation of possession is involved in the embodiment of the proclamation in the statement of claim. This conclusion is arrived at after taking into account in the appellant’s favour a proclamation which he in fact repudiates, and is quite independent of the many other difficulties in the appellant’s path, such, for instance, as that of establishing the view that the Custodian was an agent of the Crown or that of showing that his claim was not one in tort. On all these points their Lordships have heard no arguments and express no opinion whatever. They base their decision against the appellant on this one ground of the absence of allegation of possession. Their Lordships will humbly advise His Majesty that the appeal be dismissed with costs.

KNUTSON’S LEGAL BATTLES

183

A little over one year later Knutson died (22.12.30). He did not regain the lands contracted over forty years earlier, and his memoir still lay unpublished. It required others, especially the chiefs and other elites of Cameroon, to give impetus to this finally being achieved in the new millennium.

Notes 1. Some maps and documents are originals, some are hand-written or typed copies and some photocopies of these. 2. The proceeds of which went to meet war reparations. 3. Waldau had passed all his claims over to Knutson in 1899 (and, as noted already, later joined with some Germans as Director, and for a while Manager, of the Debundscha plantation on the coast of Cameroon). The document empowering Waldau confirms the steps the Swedes took to protect their interests: Power of Attorney. I hereby give Mr. George Waldau, director of the Debundscha Cocoaplantation in the Cameroons power of attorney to sign any document on my behalf in order to help me to recover my rights to land belonging to me and situated on the slopes of Cameroon Mountains. 1) Bevonge in Batoki 1 Km. 32 har, 6 ar 2) Elundu 1 Km. 91 har, 50 ar 3) Etome 1 Km. 55 har, 74 ar 4) Basse 1 Km. 62 har, 14 ar 5) Bonatanga 3 Km. 49 har, 12 ar according to a map drawn by Mr. F. Dusén and signed by the Imperial High Bailiff Krabbes at Victoria 31st. July 1891, which territories were sold by the native chiefs to Mr. George Waldau and me. 1) Bevonge on the 19th. November 1885. 2) Elundu the 31st. July 1885. 3) Etome the 1st. August 1885. 4) Basse the 1st August 1885. 5) Bonatanga the 31st. July 1885 and also the following territories of Bwassa, Mapanja, Lekumbi, Ekundjo, Boando, Bomana and Sanje. These all were recognized by the German Authorities as per titledeeds signed: 1) The Cameroons the 16th, August by v. Puttkamer and Krabbes, 2) also 8 titledeeds signed 18th. Januari 1886 by v. Soden, 3) and one signed by v. Puttkamer, on 4th. Februari 1886 but afterwards unjustly expropriated by Governor v. Puttkamer without paying any recompensation. Stockholm the 8th. of October 1915. Knut Knutson.

The letter was supported with an impressive array of witnesses: two Swedish bankers and a Public Notary, and was given the stamp of the British Consulate at Stockholm on 9 October 1915. 4.

Some words seem to be missing on the MS copy.

5. Is this the Bismarck Fountain in Buea, or Gravenreuth’s grave in Duala, or another monument? 6. Grundbuch II still exists in the National Archives in Yaounde. 7. In view of local interest in Bakweri lands, this brief, sent to Irving and Bonnar of Barclay’s Chambers in Lagos, has been included here; it is a useful summary of Knutson’s case. Dear Sirs, Knut Knutson vs The Nigerian Government I am indebted to the Niger Company for your name.

184

SHIRLEY ARDENER

Enclosed herewith I send you the following documents: (1) Power of Attorney by Knut Knutson in favour of Mr Victor Carlson with power of substitution duly executed by the latter in your favour, and naturally legalised. (2) Draft Petition of Right settled by Sir Joseph Nunn, K.C., who is advising in the matter along with Dr Wolff of Berlin. (3) Copies of Deeds of Sale from the native chiefs and of the confirmations by the late German Cameroons Government. The facts of the case are as follows:In 1884 and 1885 two Swedish subjects, named Knutson and Waldau acquired certain lands in the Cameroons now under British Mandate from the Native chiefs before the German occupation, and in 1886 Deeds of Property for these lands were issued to them by the German Governor. According to a Decree No. 30, issued on the 27th March, 1888, by the German Governor of the Cameroons, the owners of the land acquired before the 1st April, 1888, were compelled to ‘use’ them within 4 years, failing which they would be confiscated. Mr. Knutson alleges that in 1890 he asked the District Official in Victoria, Doktor Krabbe, if this Decree applied to Waldau and himself, from whom he received the reply that strictly it would, but that the German Government would take into consideration the fact that they had been the first who had begun trading in the Rio del Rey district. He was assured that if they had the lands surveyed by an approved surveyor with diagrams attached it was certain that the lands would be entered in the Land Register of the Cameroons, and when this had once been done, the lands could never be taken away from them without a proper reason. As a result of this discussion Knutson immediately engaged a certified Swedish surveyor in the person of Mr. P. Dusen, Engineer, who in 1891 surveyed and mapped the lands belonging to him and Waldau in Bevonge, Batokki, Elundu, Basse, Etome, Bonatanga and part of Bomana. The maps drawn by Mr Dusen were accepted by the District Official in Victoria, Dr. Krabbe, and the following certificate was signed by him:- I hereby officially certify that Mr Dusen, who is personally known to me, appeared before me this day, and placed before me the original of the map on the other side hereof and he declared to me that he had prepared both and that the copy agreed with the original in every particular. 31st.July 1891. A copy of each map was deposited at the Imperial District Office in Victoria. Dr. Krabbe then promised that the districts surveyed and mapped by Mr Dusen should be entered in the Land Register. The remaining properties in dispute were not surveyed and mapped in the same way, but apparently their boundaries in many cases were coterminous with those of the properties so surveyed and mapped. There is no doubt that the properties were entered on the Land Register, which was in existence at the time. Owing to lack of capital the Swedish owners could not cultivate the lands, but in any case from 1891 to 1895 in consequence of the unsettled state of the Buea tribe no cultivation could possibly take place. It seems clear, however, that no confiscation took place before the 15th. June 1896, the date of the Imperial Decree1, and apparently physical possession adverse to Knutson and Waldau did not commence before that date. It seems clear that by the end of 1897 such adverse possession had commenced, at any rate as far as the properties immediately along the Coast were concerned. Knutson was in the Cameroons from 1894 to 1895 [actually 1893–1895] and Waldau from March 1893 to May, 1897, and they both allege that no notice of confiscations laid down by the Decree of March 27th, 1888, was ever given to them. On the 5th. June 1899, Waldau assigned all his interest in the disputed lands to Knutson, who consequently became the sole owner. In March, 1902, Knutson had a discussion with the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Berlin with a view to getting compensation for the illegal confiscation of the lands. On the 22nd, May 1902, he received a letter from the German Foreign Office/Colonial Department, in which he was offered ‘for the sake of justice’, as was alleged compensation in Crown lands. As, however, he considered the offer inadequate, he declined it. On the 5th. February, 1903, Knutson launched an action in Berlin against the Cameroons Treasury claiming (1) damages 25,000 Marks and (2) the return of properties. The allegation was made that the confiscation took place in 1894 by virtue of the Decree of 27th March, 1888. (This allegation appears to have been incorrect, as it seems pretty certain that no con-

KNUTSON’S LEGAL BATTLES

185

fiscation took place before 15th June, 1896, if then at all. The question is not material as Dr Wolff of Berlin considers the confiscation ultra vires, but I realize that it may be argued that physical possession adverse to Knutson and Waldau had commenced contemporaneously with such alleged confiscation. However, this must have been extremely unlikely, and in any case the burden of proving undisturbed possession for 30 years is on the Colonial Government and the other defendants.) The validity of the decree was traversed, but it was pleaded that even if the decree were not ultra vires the confiscation was illegally carried out, particularly as no resolution of the Governor to confiscate had ever been served on Knutson or Waldau. The Treasury pleaded, inter alia, (1) that the Berlin Court had no jurisdiction on the ground that the properties were situated in the Cameroons, (2) that Knutson’s title to use in respect of Waldau’s half share was defective, (3) that Knutson and Waldau had not legally acquired the lands from the Chiefs, (4) that the certificates of the Governors, the genuineness of which was disputed were without legal value, and therefore worthless, and (5) that the confiscation under the Decree of 1888 was valid. The Berlin Court fixed 50,000 Marks as the amount which Knutson had to deposit for the case, apparently on the ground that he was a foreign plaintiff, or to comply with some other provision of German practice. As Knutson considered this too expensive, he dropped the case. The German Foreign Office in a letter of the 15th August, 1925, states that Knutson withdrew the case on the 2nd February, 1904, and is said to have declared that he would renounce his right to further proceedings before the Court in the Cameroons. Knutson denies that he ever gave such a declaration. In the year 1915 Knutson gave a Power of Attorney to Waldau who at that time was living in the Cameroons authorising him to apply to the English governor for recovery of his rights. Waldau approached the Governor, who informed him that nothing could be done for the moment, but that the matter would be taken up after the Peace was signed. In the year 1919 Knutson applied to the British Government through the Swedish Foreign Office and was informed in the year 1922, that the British Government could not do anything at the moment, apparently because Knutson had not exactly proved his claim. In the same year (1922) the properties were advertised for sale by the Nigerian custodian of Enemy Property, but were not actually sold by public auction till November 1924. Knutson protested through the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Stockholm against the Auction, but without result. It has been decided that in addition to proceeding against the Colonial Government by way of Petition of Right, writs should also be issued against the present occupiers for possession. One of the properties claimed, namely, Mokundange, is very small, and it has been considered advisable that no writ (as distinct from the Petition of Right) should be issued in respect of it, if its inclusion will mean the addition of another defendant. If, however, it is in the possession of one of the occupiers of the adjacent properties claimed by one of the occupiers of the adjacent properties claimed by Mr Knutson, please by no means omit it from the writ, as I believe it represents a valuable trading site. I enclose a copy of the Conditions of Sale published in 1924, from which you will be able to locate Mr. Knutson’s properties. It seems to me, however, that certain of Mr Knutson’s properties passed the northern boundary line of the old Victoria and Bibundi companies, and presumably they are still in the possession of the Crown in so far as they were on the other side of the boundary. I have marked in pencil where I think the northernmost boundary passed, but it seems that this will have to be established by evidence aliunde [sic]. In any case it would seem desirable that Mr. Knutson should claim a declaration in respect of such territory from the Colonial Government alone, as clearly no private possessor is now occupying it. If, however, I should be wrong, such private possessors should also be joined as defendants in the writs. I hope that your Land Register in Lagos may be of service in locating the properties, as I am informed that the purpose of transfers, etc., and presumably maps will be in existence. This much seems clear: The properties Elundu, Basse, Etome, Batoki, and Mokundange were previously to the sale in November, 1924, in the possession of the Westafrikanische Pflanzungsgesellschaft ‘Bibundi’ and represented the southernmost part of Lot 1 in the Catalogue of November, 1924. This Lot was bought by a Mr Treen Hart, of 10 Lindfield Gardens, Hampstead, London, for £9,000, and it is believed that he has recently sold the whole Lot to a Ger-

186

SHIRLEY ARDENER

man corporation, the Fakko Pflanzungsgesellschaft, whose head office is 6, Magdeburgerstrasse, Berlin. The properties Boando, Bonatanga, Ekundjo, Mapanja, Lekumbi and Bwassa were previously to the sale in November, 1924, in the possession of the Westafrikanische Pflanzungsgesellschaft ‘Victoria’ and represented part of Lot 17 in the Catalogue of November, 1924. This Lot was bought by the same Mr Hart for £78,000, and it is believed that he resold to the same Fakko Company. It may be that the Fakko Company is only a holding Company and that the old ‘Victoria’ and ‘Bibundi’ companies are actually registered as the proprietors. Sir Joseph Nunn has advised that the former German period of limitation, viz 30 years from 1897, applies, as according to his view the Nigerian Government has not extended any of its limitation laws to the Cameroon, which it can do by virtue of the Mandate of the League of Nations. I should be glad to have cabled confirmation of this opinion from you, as well as an intimation that you are free to accept my retainer. I enclose a draft of £20 on account, and I should be obliged if you will kindly render me monthly accounts of your fees and disbursements during the progress of the matter. I am obliged to ask you to do this, as I received my instructions from Stockholm, and I wish to keep myself indemnified from time to time. I should be much obliged if you would kindly do your utmost to see that the Petition of Right is served on the Colonial Secretary or the proper officials according to your Petition of Right Ordinance as soon as possible, and if you cannot effect service on the Colonial Secretary before 15th June next, please do so within a day or two afterwards. I do not know whether according to Nigerian practice the mere issue of a writ is sufficient to prevent a claim being barred by lapse of time, which is the case according to English law, or whether in addition the writ must be served on the present occupiers before 15th June, 1896, in order to interrupt the period of limitation. In any case I would suggest that you ascertain the present registered proprietors of Lots 1 and 17 and issue writs for a declaration of title or trespass (whichever may be the correct procedure according to Nigerian practice). They could then be served in the ordinary way as soon thereafter as possible. By separate post I forwarded to you copy of Mr Dusen’s original map, with the endorsement of the 31st July, 1891, in German: ‘Ich bestaetige hierdurch amtlich dass der mir persoenlich bekamnte Herr P. Dusen heute vor mire erschienen ist, das Orignal der umseitigen Kartenskizze vergelegt und mir erklaert hat, er habe beide selbst angefertigt und stimme die Kopie mit dem Original in allen Teilen ueberein.’ which I think has been correctly translated in the foregoing part of this letter. There is also an endorsement in Swedish: ‘The fore-going copy and all statements written thereon correspond in every respect with the original. Stockholm, 1 February, 1919. Ex Officio. U.E. Svenson, Notarius Publicus. The original map is in my possession and I am not troubling you with it in the meantime. I do not know whether there is any provision in the Nigerian law, which would enable you to register a lis pendens against the properties in dispute, but if there is no such provision to prevent dealings with them pendente lite, you may consider it advisable to obtain a formal injunction restraining dealings with the properties in the meantime. If so, you are authorized to do so. Perhaps you may consider it advisable to apply for a formal consolidation of all the actions (if more than one) with the Petition of Right after the various parties have been served and the pleadings been closed. It seems pretty certain that some burden of proof will rest on Mr. Knutson to establish his original title. This title is not likely to be admitted either by the Colonial Government or the present occupiers. In any case, Counsel have advised that the evidence of Mr. Knutson and Dr Martin Wolff of Berlin should be taken on commission in London. When the pleadings are closed I presume you will apply in the ordinary course for such a commission to issue. Dr Wolff’s evidence, of course, will only be required, if the defence raises the validity of the confiscatory parts of the decree of 1888. If it can be managed, it might be desirable to induce the defence to abandon any attack on Mr Knutson’s original title, leaving only the validity of the decree and the question of limitation outstanding. I mention this as we should prefer that the whole burden of proof should be on the defence. I think that the statement of claim on the writs can safely follow the wording of the Petition of Rights mutatis mutandis, and that here again there should be no reference to the decree

KNUTSON’S LEGAL BATTLES

187

of 1888, but naturally you will use your discretion if any deviation is considered advisable from the standpoint of Nigerian practice. Mr Carlson has asked me to inform you that though your Power of Substitution will authorize you to compromise matters, he is most anxious that no compromise of any kind should take place without his definite instructions. The areas of the properties are as follows: hectares acres approx. Bevonge in Batoki 1032 2,650 Elundu 1091 2,750 Etome 1055 2,650 Basse 1062 2,700 Bonatanga 3019 7,800 Mokundange half 1 acre Ekundje 10800 26,000 Bomana 14000 35,000 The area of the other properties is unknown, but they must be considerable. I hope by next mail to forward you a large scale map of the territory round the Cameroon Mountain. The exact locality of Bomana is not quite known. It seems, however, that it may represent the whole of Lot 1 or may include parts of Lots 2 and 3 as well. I am making further enquiries from Stockholm. Please do not keep back the writs for this. We can always apply for leave to amend. You will notice that Lot 1 in the Catalogue of November 1924 is described as being 34,550 acres in extent, but as the southernmost extremity contains the properties (or most of them) surveyed by Mr Dusen and represents consequently approximately 18,500 acres, it would seem as if part of Bomana is now represented by Lots 2 and 3 as well. However, unless the owners of Lots 2 and 3 happen to be the same people as those of Lots 1 or 17, please do not make them parties pending further instructions. Mr Carlson, who is now in London and will be returning to Stockholm on the 22nd inst. has kindly promised to take back with him a copy of the 1924 Catalogue and will endeavour to get Mr Knutson to indicate exactly where his properties lie. He has promised to cable me so that I can convey the information to you as soon as possible. Yours faithfully,

Delay was not necessary, however, because the next day a letter was despatched: Pursuant to my letter of yesterday, I have now been able to locate two places of the name ‘Bomana’ on a printed map prepared by Mr Dusen as the result of journeys made by him in 1891 and 1892. As to where exactly the 35,000 acres representing this property were situated, I am not in a position to say. It seems, however, that the northernmost extremity of Lot 1 would include the two name ‘Bomana’ marked on Mr Dusen’s map, which I am sending you in the same packet as his survey map of the 31st July, 1891. It is just possible that part of ‘Bomana’ may fall outside of the Lots sold in 1924 and presumably such part would still be in the Crown domain. If this should prove to be so, it seems that we shall have to amend the Petition of Right, because as at present drawn it assumes that all Mr. Knutson’s properties have passed into private hands, which would not be the case. You will notice that in the map at the beginning of the Catalogue I have marked in dotted ink lines what I conceive to [be] the boundary of Mr Knutson’s southern lands. My justification for making the seaboard Bota ba Batoki is the Confirmation of the 4th February 1886 relating to Boando. Yours faithfully,

8. The Conditions of Sale contained the following paragraphs:3. The Secretary of State for the Colonies has approved a Proclamation (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the approved Cameroons Proclamation) made or to be made by the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the colony and Protectorate of Nigeria to make further provisions for the disposal of enemy property. Purchasers are referred to the said Proclamation for its precise terms. No purchaser shall be entitled to enquire into the power of the said Governor

188

SHIRLEY ARDENER

and Commander-in-Chief to make such proclamation or any other proclamation referred to in these conditions. 4. The Vendor is selling, leasing or otherwise disposing of the property specified in the particulars as Custodian of Enemy Properties in the British Sphere of the Cameroons appointed under the Nigerian Public Custodian Ordinance. 1916, and is acting under the powers conferred upon him by the Cameroons Proclamation No 25 dated the 6th March, 1920, made by Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria, and by the approved Cameroons Proclamation referred to in Condition 5. Extracts from the relevant provisions of the approved Cameroons Proclamation are set out in the First Schedule hereto.......... No purchaser shall be entitled to enquire into the validity of the said Ordinance and Proclamations or to require the production of any other than a copy printed by the Government printer at Lagos.

9. The corner of the page in the file is torn and some letters are missing.

CHAPTER 3

Waldau’s Last Years in Cameroon

Waldau was a frequent visitor to the Canary Islands, but he continued to return and later work in Cameroon for another 23 years after Knutson left. His story is yet to to be fully written, but we can note here that he threw his lot in with the German businessmen engaging themselves in the Cameroon economy. Having set up his own company in Germany in 1896, he now became a shareholder of the Gesellschaft Nord-West Kamerun (G.N.K.) which had been established in 1899 on a model based on arrangements for the Congo and those for the Royal Niger & British South Africa companies. The concessions permitted various monopoly rights in the hinterland, rights to acquire ownerless land and other pre-emptive rights. This company had the support of the soldiery.1 An unsigned report dated November 1903 entitled ‘The opening-up of the concession area of the GNK’ comments on the slow progress made up country. It seems, however, that in September the GNK succeeded in breaking out from Rio del Rey – and in establishing its first settlement in the concession area. This task was entrusted to Herr Waldau and (the ill-fated) Graf von Pückler Limpurg.2 After these had established the first bush factory at Nssakpe, not far from the so-called Cross-River rapids, Hptm von Ramsay led the first expedition sent out by the GNK to the Cross River. This took a route from Duala via Mundame, Manyeme [sic], Baru, Abas and Mbabon [sic] and arrived, not without overcoming considerable difficulties, in Nssakpe at the beginning of October 1900. While Graf v. Pückler and Waldau busied themselves with the setting-up of further trade-counters, Ramsay, accompanied by the ‘Gardener’ Rudati, set off in a N.W. direction ... 3

It is possible that Waldau did not remain with the GNK when the Rio del Rey base was given up in 1901. In any case, only a few years later we have news of him as a member of the board of directors, and later manager, of the plantation at Debundscha. He remained a shareholder. Dollmann on behalf of Jantzen and Thormählen originally acquired Debundscha plantation lands on 29 May 1893. The latter associated itself with Gunnar Linnell, von Oertzen and G. Waldau and the land was taken over by Linnell & Co, Debundscha.4 Linnell and Oertzen sold their shares to Max Esser in September

SHIRLEY ARDENER

190

1905 and the Kolonialgesellschaft Debundja Pflanzung company was soon registered. Waldau was the minority shareholder, Paul Cryber had more than twice his shares, while the largest shareholding by far was held by Esser (Akten des Bundesarchives Lichterfeld, R1001, RKA, 3539. Bl. 2 and 3). Five years later the company also came to include other Germans.5 At that time (1.1.1910) Waldau is described as of Santa Cruz, Tenerife, where he intended to settle. He had telegraphed from Santa Cruz, Tenerife, resigning from the Board (but probably retaining his shares) because he was going out to Debundscha for four months as the company’s representative. He left Tenerife in October 1910 (Buea Archives), and became the manager of the Debundscha Plantation (op. cit. RKA. 350, Bl. 27). Simon Epale (1985: 63) notes that Waldau had an annual salary of £300, the bottom of the salary range (which he gives as £300–400). Waldau expected to have a two-year contract, but he obviously stayed much longer; in fact he was still there after the British and French overpowered and replaced the Germans in the First World War. He was still attempting to help Knutson regain his lands, as a document dated 1915 in Knutson’s papers confirms. In 1916 the British Custodian of Enemy Property had taken the plantations into administration. June 1916 found Waldau putting forward a claim to the Resident’s Office in Buea to be part owner of the plantation. He had just taken his wife over to Fernando Po to wait for a Spanish boat to take her north. Letters moved between Buea, Victoria, Douala and Nigeria. On 13 August 1916 Colonel Moorhouse formally offered Waldau the management of the Debundscha Plantation at the same salary as by then he had been getting, £450 per annum, which he accepted. He was now working for the Supervisor of Plantations. Waldau had also ‘applied for the management of Isongo and Oechelhausen plantations at £25 per menchem each’. This request was not acceded to.6 In Knutson’s papers there is a copy of a document, telling Waldau to leave Cameroon: Confidential C/304/16 Resident’s Office Buea 30th November 1916 G. Waldau Esq. Dibundscha. Sir, I regret to have to inform you that I have received instructions from His Honour the Lieutenant Lieutenant Governor, Lagos, that your appointment as Manager of the Dibundscha Plantation is terminated forthwith, and that it is considered necessary for you to leave the country at once. Should you so desire, Government is prepared to pay your passage to Europe. I am desired to convey to you an assurance that no imputation whatever is cast on your honour. This letter will be handed to you by Capt. G. Walker, D.S.C., Commissioner of Police, who has been instructed to carry out the steps necessary to comply with the orders received from Lagos, detailed above. The utmost consideration will be shown to you, as far as is compatible with the prompt execution of instructions, and you are requested to express in writing your wishes as to the disposal of any personal property you may wish to leave behind. The greatest care will be taken to safeguard your inter-

WALDAU’S LAST YEARS IN CAMEROON

191

ests in every way possible and to ensure that the arrangements made for your departure will be such as to cause you the minimum amount of trouble and annoyance. I have the honour to be, Sir,

Waldau must have overcome this instruction, because on 7 February 1917 the Acting Resident Cameroons Province residing at Buea states he has no objection to Waldau (then living at Moliko) returning to Debundscha, a view endorsed by the Senior Naval Officer, HMS Astraea, who reported that the ‘The Germans left Fernando Po Feb.12th’. Enquiries about Knutson and Waldau continued. F. Evans, Supervisor of Plantations, reported that Waldau had asked the Swedish Foreign Office to present to the British Government his claim to an interest in Debundscha Estate. He declined to get involved in this legal question, but personally thought that Waldau was entitled to especially favourable consideration. Since the British had occupied this territory he had loyally kept his neutrality, even though he had been ‘within easy signalling distance of Fernando Po’. Since November 1916 he had managed Debundscha and more recently also Isongo and Oechelhausen Estates. And ‘…we owe it largely to Mr Waldau’s energy and experience (he has known the Cameroons since 1885) that we have been able to keep these estates from reverting to Bush’. In answer to enquiries about the Swedes, the Governor of Douala reported that he could not give any information as the Germans had taken all the files away to Germany. In 1919 the Rev. Bender, Baptist missionary at Soppo, was consulted. He enquired of the natives in Bonjongo who thought Knutson was a Dane, and Waldau Swedish, but married to a Danish lady! A slightly garbled telegram to Lagos from the Resident, Ambrose, dated 3 October 1919 noted that ‘Accra Natives report Knutsen died and was buried near Maphani cannot find Grave’. Perhaps this was a dim memory of Ohlsson’s or Gustafsson’s deaths. Bender (having consulted Haddison, a native of Victoria, Chief Keke of Bonjongo and Beckley of Bonjongo) stated that ‘according to native law and customs here no man could purchase land in perpetuity, but the native would grant an indefinite use of lease and licence in return for a present. In the event of such licencee going away, the land reverts to the native community such lease and licence’.7 At this time, asked to describe himself, Waldau modestly replies ‘The Forehead is low I suppose the face old very’ (Buea Archives). At the time of writing this text it is unclear when Waldau wound up his connection with Debundscha. His appeal for compensation for loss of ownership was rejected, as the company was registered in Germany. We do have a file in the National Archives Office in Buea (File Od/a (1923) 66) which concerns handing over ‘charge of Mokundange Estate, together with all books, stores, etc. and the sum of Seventeen pounds seven shillings and fivepence, being the balance as shown in my cash book’ by Waldau (‘Out-going officer’) to A. Blair (‘In-coming officer’). A detailed inventory of furniture, stores of all kinds, and produce waiting for shipment, is included.8 Probably this hand-over took place as a consequence of the forthcoming re-auction of the Estates in 1924. It must be presumed, pending other evidence, that Waldau finally left Cameroon at this time. As we know, he died eighteen years later at Tenerife.

SHIRLEY ARDENER

192

The End Valdau out-lasted Knutson by twelve years. Their former partner, Otto Heilborn, lived to write Waldau’s obituary. In the end, the old adage ‘possession is nine-tenths of the law’ seems an inadequate ending for this story for, in practice, in Knutson’s and Waldau’s experience, it was ten-tenths of the law. For those Bakweri who continue to protest their land claims today – can it, or will it, be any different?

Notes 1. I am indebted to Mrs E.M. Chilver for use of her notes. 2. Chilver notes that he joined the military administration not long after; all Germans at that date had performed compulsory military service, and many were in the Reserve, so could easily be incorporated. Graf von Pückler Limpurg’s murder in Bascho was the signal for the so-called Anyang uprising of 1904 which led to the punitive expeditions the same year. 3. Chilver notes that ‘Nssakpe briefly became a military post in January 1901. In the autumn of 1901 the GNK gave up its main supply base at Rio del Rey and removed it to Old Calabar as the water-route to the Cross River area was easier and cheaper. The company invested in a stern-wheeler, 2 launches and a lighter and added further items. In April 1902 the GNK already employed 7 Europeans, 12 in 1903. In 1903 the trading headquarters of the Cross area was at Nssanakang which supplied GNK branches at Mbabong, Abokum, Mamfe, Badje, Kescham and Bascho. The military station seems to have moved to Ossidinge by early 1903, probably well before then. It was not well disciplined: the GNK agent Diehl wrote to his Directors (23 April 1903, RKA 3463, 163–70) referring to the ‘dissolute economy of Ossidinge Military Station’ and reported that the route to it from Rio del Rey was depopulated owing to the rapes and banditries of unsupervised soldiers sent out to recruit labour to bring up the station’s supplies. The situation only got better when the Station was fully kitted up.’ 4.

I am indebted for the archival material to Dr Ute Röschenthaler, who kindly made the following notes for me: Linnel & Co., Debundsha, had a share capital totalling 120,000 m., each shareholder holding 30,000 mark’s worth of shares (Geyger, Linnell, v. Oertzen and Waldau). In October 1902 Linnell & Co extended the original holding of 1232.81 hectares by 500 ha. by purchase from Government (the latter not yet in Grundbuch, says Esser). Linnell and v. Oertzen sold their shares to Esser on 6.9. 1905 and a new company was set up with a capital of 200,000 marks. This, says Esser, is sufficient to cover Linnell and Co.’s obligations, leaving a reserve for expansion. The new farm had continued operations without a break. Thirteen days later (on the 19th) the Kolonialgesellschaft Debundja Pflanzung was established. The Governor sent the legal documents for approval. Waldau, Paul Cryber and Max Esser had shares (Akten des Bundesarchives Lichternsfeld, R1001, RKA, 3539. Bl. 2 and 3). At the first meeting Waldau is represented by Ernst Ahlemann, notary (Report from Esser to Ausw Amt, 25.11.1905, op.cit. Bl.28). Five years later the company came to also include other Germans – Hermann Hoesch (a Rhineland industrialist, from Duren), Rackowitz of Hamburg, and Kraft of Hamburg (Vice Chairman), the General Manager in Berlin being Remmling (op.cit. Bl.224).

WALDAU’S LAST YEARS IN CAMEROON

193

5. E.M. Chilver thinks that Hoesch’s shares, deposited by him in Esser’s bank (Schafthausensche Bantverein) didn’t give him voting rights until the GM so decided, which it did. For a detailed study of Esser in Cameroon see Chilver and Röschenthaler 2001. E.M. Chilver notes that Kemner (1937: 181–2) confirms that the Debundscha plantation started by Linnell soon got into trouble and was propped up by Geiger [sic], Esser and Victor Hoesch, brother to Hermann. Before the war it was viable under cocoa, but after the war it had difficulties. In 1936 it changed hands and became the property of a Hamburg consortium which converted to bananas. 6. Letter from Resident’s Office to The Supervisor of Plantations, Bota, 3 August 1916. 7. File No. Od/a (1916) 12, Buea Archives. 8. For an account of the plantations during this period see, eg., Epale 1985.

PART IV

Alternative Perspectives

The following material provides comparative material, and further eye-witness accounts of events, people and places described above by Knutson. The first contribution by Waldau (in this case called by himself Valdau) comes from Ymer, 1885: 163–77), and is offered in a translation from the Swedish made for this book by Johan Malmström. The second is a summarized account by Waldau of his inland trip with Knutson, which adds to the latter’s version of events. Waldau published this text also in Swedish in Ymer, 1885, and in German in D. geog. Blätter (1886), and the material here draws on epitomes made by Chilver and Ardener. (It should be noted that it is a summary and indications of omissions are not always given here). It is fortunate that we have two English descriptions of Mapanja village, made by Richard Burton and George Thomson some years before Knutson arrived there. Because these are not everywhere easily accessible, verbatim extracts from Burton’s book (1863) have been included here. I have summarized the material on Thomson, drawing mainly on the Memoir of George Thomson (1881), by his nephew, John Ebenezer Honeywell Thomson, which itself was based on Thomson’s letters home. As noted in the text above, Hugo Zöller from Germany, who figures in Knutson’s writings, left his own version of his ups and downs with the Swedes, and with the Bakweri, his fellow Germans and the Pole Rogozinski. The extracts below (from Zöller 1885) highlight the excitement and conflicts of those times; translations from the German were made by Rosemary Frances, Fiona Moore, and Ena Pedersen, while Marion Berghahn kindly checked some points. Finally, a brief biographical note on Rogozinski, who figures in the writings of both Knutson and Zöller, is made available. Preliminary work on a longer biography, being written jointly by Grazyna Kubica-Heller and me, is in hand.

CHAPTER 1

About the Ba-kwileh [Bakweri] People G. Valdau (translated by Johan Malmström)

Of those tribes who inhabit the Cameroon Mountain it is only the Ba-kwileh or Ba-kwiri [Bakweri] people of whom I have a more intimate knowledge, but this description should, more or less also fit the others. The Bakweri live as far up as 3000 feet on the southern and south-eastern part of the mountain, with the exception of the coastal stretch which is inhabited by the Bimbia people, to which the inhabitants of Victoria and Bota belong. Even further south round the mouth of the Cameroon river live the Dualla people; Bomboko are on the western and north-western side of the mountain, Ba-kunde [Bakundu] on the north-eastern and eastern. All of the dialects belong to a language, a-bantu, that is spread over the greater part of southern Africa. In this language, Bakweri means ‘the forest people’.1 The Bakweri, as a rule, are short in stature – only a small number reach a height of six feet – thinly and feebly built, although there are those among them who are well-built with ample and well-proportioned limbs. They never, however, attain the muscular strength and size of Europeans. Among the women one can see many who are quite beautiful and who have a fine figure, but this beauty soon passes. After twenty-five years of age, their beauty of form has, for a European eye, turned into the most repulsive proportions.2 The colour of their skin is a beautiful dark brown; some have a lighter colour, an unpleasant yellow-brown. Normally, however, only those who live higher up on the mountain have this skin-colour. The skin is rubbed with palm-oil, which keeps it soft and smooth. Tattooing is common and is of two kinds; some is pricked in black and blue colour, and some is of raised, uncoloured, scars. The former can be applied to the whole of the body, but preferably to the chest, nose and cheek. The raised form is less common, and is put on the chest and arms, more seldom on the face. The hair is arranged in many different ways. Some women part their hair in a spiral round the top of the head and arrange their hair on a pad within the circle of

198

G. VALDAU

the parting. This pad consists of moss, grass and the like, skilfully covered by the tightly tied or plaited hair. Some part their hair into a number of small plaits which stand up. Others shave it away in patches, so that it forms a crest from the forehead to the neck, or have half of their head shaved, and so on. It is also fashionable to pluck eyelashes; only the children are allowed to keep this natural protection for the eyes. The whole ‘dress’ consists of a six-foot-long piece of cloth which is wrapped round the waist; this is, however, sometimes exchanged for a narrow strip, from the front of which hangs a piece of cloth measuring about half a foot square. Round the neck, arms and legs strings of beads or rings of copper-, brass, and iron-thread are worn, especially by the women. They drill holes in the girl’s ears which gradually are made bigger by putting in bigger and bigger pieces of wood or other objects,3 so that the ear lobe in the end forms a thin ring, somewhat more than half an inch in diameter. In this ring is carried a two to three-inch-long cylinder-shaped snuffbox of antelope bone or wood. The houses of the Bakweri are all of a rectangular shape, built straight on the ground; in this way they differ from the Dualla which are built on a high base of earth. They are built in different ways. In some, the walls simply consist of poles standing closely together; in others, and in most cases, they form a trellis of bamboo, which on the inside is dressed with so-called bamboo ([ribs] of the raphia palm) and then with bark, so that the houses become tight and protected against the cold night winds. They are all covered with raphia or so-called ‘bamboo mats’, which are stacked in the shape of roofing-tiles and form a light, cool and in every way suitable, roof-covering. These thin mats are completely unpenetrable by the sun whereas, on the other hand, a thick plank becomes burning hot, even on the side which is turned away from the sun. The furnishing is very simple. The small

Figure 17: Young Women © The National Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Per Dusén.

ABOUT THE BA-KWILEH PEOPLE

199

houses only have one room; the bigger ones have a partition, six feet wide, eight and a half feet high at each end, built by planks. These small pitch-dark, poky spaces constitute sleeping chambers which are equipped with bunks, covered with mats plaited with cane. Above these bedrooms supplies of firewood for the rainy season are kept, as well as a good deal of household utensils and possessions; among other things are those boxes which contain the inhabitant’s supplies of textiles, beads and other riches. The rest of the house is one big room, which gets its light from the big entrance. Around the walls are boards which constitute resting places for humans and animals. Above the fireplaces, which are three or four in number and are made of three stones laid on the ground, usually hangs a dryingplace for firewood, and under this a basket in which meat is smoked, if there by chance should be any in the house. Of household utensils there are, among other things, sugerloaf-shaped baskets in which the women carry coco[yams] on their backs, firewood and so on; plain stools; wooden dishes of different sizes – some are even up to three feet in diameter – worked out of one single piece of wood; wooden ladles; clay vessels in different sizes and basins for boiling or storing water; home-made knives and axes; pick-axes, which constitute the only farming tools; spears, bows, drums and hunting horns, and so on. The men make all these objects, with the exception of the clay vessels which are made by the women. Most surprising, in some houses, are those planks of up to two and a half feet in width. It must in truth take a lot of work and patience to produce a board like that with only the help of the adze or big knives that the black people have. The villages do not have any streets; rather, the houses are spread out quite far from one another. Every house is surrounded by a small space of cleared land, where plantains – a kind of banana – grow, and which communicate with the other houses through narrow paths. The village is surrounded by a fence,4 of which every man has his part to close and maintain. This fence keeps the domestic animals away from the banana- and coco[yam]-plantations that lie outside. The women look after these [crops]; the men only clear the space on which the women cultivate and plant. The latter are also obliged to provide their masters and men with coco[yams], bananas and other vegetables. That which is not consumed for the use of the house, they can use as they think best, and it is usually sold for salt, tobacco and ornaments. The finest food is coco[yam] – the root of Caladium esculentum. Besides plantains, a kind of inferior banana (Musa sapientum), they also cultivate, although on a small scale, real bananas (M. paradisaca), maize, socalled potato, or sweet potato, and a kind of bean and the odd sugarcane. Of spices they only cultivate two sorts of pepper, which in strength surpasses cayenne. Meat the men have to get themselves, otherwise they have to do without. This is also what normally happens, because the hunting is bad, and they save their domestic animals as far as possible. Only those who live near fishing grounds have meat [= ?fish] almost every day. The others eat almost exclusively vegetables, because the few pieces of meat they have every now and then can really only be a reminder of how it tastes – normally when a pig is killed the owner of the animal shares with the others in the village so that each gets a piece, even if it may be very small. This practice is, however, very good and suitable because in this way every household gets a little bit of meat once a week or more, according to the wealth of the village.

200

G. VALDAU

If, on the other hand, the one that slaughters had kept the animal all to himself, then the greater part of it would go to waste in this hot climate, since the natives don’t know how to salt the meat and, besides, seldom have enough salt, which is a very expensive article up on the mountain. The limited muscular strength of the black people is without doubt due to the lack of or the limited access to meat. A European cannot eat the same food as the native without becoming weak and sick, something that we discovered many times. He must have meat at least once a day, and also not too little. Of the portion of meat which a person home in Sweden usually eats every day, a black family of three persons would manage on for many days. The domestic animals consist of very beautiful horned cattle as well as goats, sheep, pigs and hens; in some villages there are also some Muskovy ducks brought from South America. The horned cattle walk around freely in the forest, without ever in their lifetime being of use to the owner, because to milk a cow is such an awkward undertaking that it never occurs to a black person. Moreover no animals are kept for their milk. We haven’t even been able to get anyone to taste it, with the exception of our interpreter M’bua [= Mbua] (Rain), who has become just as fond of it as any white person, and he milks the goats regularly. But not even this example has been able to induce the others to get over their prejudices. There are cows in the majority of the villages on the coast as well as on the mountain. He who has around 30 cows is considered to be rich. According to what the black people claim, the king in one village, Soffo [=Soppo] in the vicinity of Buea, is the owner of a cattle herd of nearly 400 animals. If this is true he is without doubt the richest in the country, because in Victoria they pay £4–£10 per head for cattle. By the sheer number of cattle everywhere in the country one can presume that the tsetse fly doesn’t exist here. The natives don’t know any example where cattle have died as a consequence of insects. G. Tompson [=George Thomson, q.v.below] had, during his stay here in Mapanja half a dozen donkeys brought from Europe which were in excellent health. The grass-rich high plains round Mann’s Spring would without doubt be very suitable for the running of cattle-farming on a bigger scale and the construction of a Swedish sheep-breeding farm. Goats play an important role as units of value, in whatever concerns trade, especially when buying a wife. They are therefore also particularly cared for and have the privilege of being allowed to stay inside the houses; with white human inhabitants they brotherly share the restingplaces. If one spends the night in a black person’s hut, then one has before oneself a peculiar experience; the life in these huts offers a characteristic scene. Around a small fire – which only faintly lights up the closest objects – are found goats, pigs and dogs, in the most miscellaneous mixture. Here lies a black boy with his back close to the fire, loyally embracing a goat in order to benefit from its body-heat; a dog has for the same praiseworthy purpose stretched itself right across the boy, with its nose tucked in under the boy’s jaw and its tail in the ashes. There a black man rests with a goat as his pillow, while the neat and pleasant head of a pig rests on the enormous black man’s stomach. This scene is, as I have mentioned, characteristic of the life of the black man, because he is in reality friends with his animals and the stench and the disorder they spread do not disturb him. The food is just as unclean; in it there is at least two percent of contamination of all sorts. To clean up a dish never occurs to them; this is left to the dogs, which

ABOUT THE BA-KWILEH PEOPLE

201

pleasant task they carry out with the greatest care. However, they keep their own bodies reasonably clean. Those who live in the vicinity of water wash and bathe themselves almost every day; if they catch lice they liberate themselves from them by shaving off all their hair. Even in that respect does their animal nature come to light; just like the monkeys, they handily catch the little creeps and kill them – with their teeth. Before meals they usually wash their hands, which serve both as knife, fork and spoon; however at the coco[yam]-banquet they sometimes use a wooden stick. They usually eat coco[yam] by itself, only spiced with the usual extremely strong pepper; on a finer occasion, palm-oil is added and a kind of over-cooked leaf or jelly-like mushrooms which grow on old decayed tree-trunks. If there is a piece of meat, if only a couple of inches long and equally wide, it is divided and shared-out equally among all those present. The food is presented on a big wooden dish which is placed on the ground in the middle of the hut, and the whole company crouch down on their heels close together in a ring round the dish. Everyone pays attention to the others during the meal so that no one helps himself, or more often, or to more food, than the others, something that is considered incompatible with good manners. Here and there a dog pushes his way forward, putting his nose over the dish, while a few pigs keep themselves close, outside the ring, ready to catch those pieces which every now and then are thrown to them. The black people are very hospitable; anyone who comes during a meal is invited to join in. One custom is that the women don’t eat meat from pigs and hens; the others would laugh at one who did that. A woman’s lot is here the same as everywhere in Africa, or the slave’s lot. Just like those, she is bought by the man, for whom she must then work and slave all her life. As has already been mentioned, the women must provide the house with firewood, water and food, which often they get from far away plantations, carrying burdens of 150 to 200 [kilos, or sticks?]. The price which is paid for a wife differs a lot, varying from £40 to £200, and is paid in goats, textiles and so on. The man is often given help by relatives and friends to pay for his wife, but it sometimes takes many long years until the last payment has been made. When payment has been made, she is handed over, like any other commodity, without further ceremonies to the man, who, however, often ruins himself through the purchase. Fancy seldom or never decides choice of wife. With most people it is the price that decides; with the chiefs and the wealthier it is politics that decide. It is, of course, important to get parents-in-law with wealth and influence. Often the parents come to a general agreement about wives for their children, while they are still children. In Bibundi, to the north of the mountain, during a hike Knutson and Lewin [sic=Levin] were witnesses to a wedding, whose beginning was strange and described in this way: A man ran up and down the village-street, beating his chest again and again, and shouted, screamed and howled – with one word: made as much noise as he possibly could. I thought I was seeing the manifestations of a deep sorrow and asked the interpreter if the man had lost a relative. ‘Not at all’, was the reply, ‘it is the father to the bride.’ ‘The bride?’ I repeated. ‘Yes, this man, who runs here and cries is her father.’ I was interested to know what it was that the screaming man had to say, and I told the interpreter to translate his words as carefully as possible, all of which I then wrote down in my notebook. The man

202

G. VALDAU

announced that his daughter was married and that he was very unhappy to lose her, ‘she was such a hard-working, good and virtuous daughter. She cooked his meals, she accompanied him when he went out fishing, she brought the sheep and the goats home at night, she brought home dry firewood for fuel, she tied his fishingtools and so on and so on.’ After the father had described all her qualities in this way, there appeared two men who carried rifles and a measure of gunpowder, and they fired 10 shots in honour of the virtuous bride. The father thereafter received the purchase sum for the daughter, which consisted of one goat and 30 measures of cloth. After that he slaughtered a pig, of which all those present received a small piece, and then the feast ended – just as it often does at home – with a ball in the wedding-house. The boys are circumcised when they are about 15 years old and are thereafter considered to be men, ‘free to marry’. The girls are married off already when they are 13 to 17-years-old. About morality or rather immorality, because the firstmentioned is an unknown virtue with the Bakweri, I think best to say as little as possible. The women, married or unmarried, are in the highest degree promiscuous. Promiscuity goes on to the greatest extent, by those who are not circumcised almost without punishment, but in case of discovery, something which is very rare, the men must pay £20 to the wronged husband. If the guilty cannot pay, he must give his wife; if he doesn’t have any he will be sold as a slave to the Bimbia people or other people at the coast.5 Among the Bakweri there are no slaves other than to the east in Binga [Bwenga] and some other villages in the vicinity of the Mungo River. As having many wives is seen as proof of wealth, each tries to get as many as he can. Someone who has two is already considered a very wealthy man. The above-mentioned King of Soppo, the richest man of the Bakweri people, is the happy owner of 20 wives. The women have, as we have seen, their specific daily work, which sometimes, especially during the sowing time, can become quite heavy. The lazy men on the other hand seldom or never work, most of their time is spent eating, sleeping and talking. Only occasionally do they make some palm-oil and collect palm-nuts, work which to the greater part is carried out by the women. Those who live by the coast are, however, more hardworking, in that they are out fishing, at least half of the twenty-four hours, namely morning, evening and part of the night; during the latter the fishing is done with the help of torches. If the black man thus is a bad worker, he is on the other hand a much more skilled merchant. Every black man seems to be born to be a merchant. An 8- or 9-year-old boy is already a keen and cunning businessman. Just like the Jews they always ask 2 or 3 times more than the product is worth. Every white man is to them an excellent target to swindle and deceive in every possible way. In the beginning he is always more or less skinned, until he has got to know them and no longer allows himself to be fooled. As soon as they notice this, they immediately change attitude and become very reasonable. The respect for the white man increases in relation to his ability to avoid their swindles and to his firm and serious attitude in general. The Bakweri generally like the white man very much; every village wishes to have one, or many white men, who will obtain schools and factories for them. Their idea and knowledge of the white men have, during the last year, changed and increased a lot.

ABOUT THE BA-KWILEH PEOPLE

203

They now know that there are other white men than the English, such as Swedes and Germans, and that their interests don’t always coincide. The latter are still very little known by the Bakweri and would never be able to acquire any of the land, unless the people didn’t think that they were Swedes or at least our friends. How easily the country could become Swedish! The way of governing is monarchical in name, but in reality patriarchal. Every village has one or many so-called kings and sub-chiefs. The eldest son inherits the royal position. The power of the king is not particularly great and rests only on his wealth. All matters are decided in the ‘palaver’ whose majority makes the decision. Often, although not always, it is the king’s view that wins through the influence his wealth gives. Among the Bakweri there are no superior kingdoms, every village, however small, is independent and has its own ‘king’. A village is at first usually made up of only one family, whose head calls himself king. When such a family grows and multiplies, something that happens very quickly in Africa, side branches appear, every branch with its head, and in this way sub-kings and chiefs appear. Most fights are, as have been mentioned, decided through ‘palaver’. If, as happens rather often, hostility breaks out between two neighbours, then they hardly ever bring rifles to the ‘war’, but they bombard each other with stones until they get into a scuffle, where cutlasses, sabres, cudgels and spears serve as weapons. With the spears, they don’t stab, but only cut, since the intention is not to kill, but only to make the enemy incapable of battle. It is only if somebody is killed that the battle will take on a more serious character. The party of the dead is then ignited by such a rage and desire for vengeance that, in most cases, all resistance is impossible. They now use their rifles to the best of their ability, and the more that are killed, the more complete the vengeance. The enemy’s village is plundered; the houses are torn down and burnt. If the vengeance is considered sufficient, they make peace. If, on the other hand, vengeance is not possible because the enemies have fled, then these enemies can never again return to their previous dwelling places. They have to hide as far away from it as possible, deep inside large, desolate, forests where they later lead a miserable life, always in danger of being discovered or killed. Blood vengeance is an important duty, which is incumbent on the eldest son or brother of the murdered or of the one fallen in battle. If two people have been involved in the murder, and one has been killed, then one can buy himself free of the vengeance, by paying £50 to £60 or giving his wife, something that, however, almost never happens. As a sign of grief the relatives of the dead take off the usual waist-cloths and all ornaments, and only carry a rope around their waist with a small dirty strip of cloth hanging down at the front, and are, moreover, as filthy as possible. Among other things they rub their whole body with yellow clay and other dirt, so that they look completely repulsive. The whole village shows their sympathy with the grief by abstaining from all dances and pleasures. During the first three months they sing dirges at the house of the dead every night. The grief lasts until vengeance has been taken. When an enemy has finally been killed, then the mood of the village changes immediately. Each and everyone puts on the most beautiful piece of cloth that he has, and at the same place where previously the hopeless, heartbreaking

204

G. VALDAU

tones of songs of grief had ascended in the quiet night, for many days in a row there are now merry war-dances to songs, blowing of horn, rifle-shots and the deafening noise of drums. The Bakweri have laws which they follow strictly. He who lies to someone must pay the injured many pounds. If somebody steals – something that never happens in the village where he lives, but always from a neighbouring village – then in case of discovery he must pay £10 to £15. Since every village is responsible for what each of its inhabitants does, war can result if payment is not made. If somebody has a claim on another person in another village and is not paid, then he will tiptoe to the village and steal some of the debtor’s goats, and pig – or if the claim is big, his wife; in the latter case he can be sure of soon getting paid. To give an example of the treatment of thieves and the course of justice among the Bakweri, I quote the following story by K. Knutson: The other day I was the witness to a punishment here in Mapanja. What had happened was that the king of Boanda had sent us a man to collect the remainder of the purchase sum for land at Boanda, which we had bought. When this was settled, the man went back in the direction of Boando, but during his journey back he hit upon a bad idea – to steal a pig from the king of Mapanja. He had, however, the bad luck to run into the son of the king of Mapanja, who had arrested and brought him back as a prisoner to Mapanja, where he was tied to a pole outside the king’s house. The drum was beaten to gather the men, and also I was sent for to judge the matter. To start with the king urged the accused to tell the truth, but in vain; with much cheek he lied and made up a long story about how he had believed that the pig belonged to Valdau and me, and that he took care of it in the hope of receiving a good reward. The king asked him sharply if the white men lived in Mapanja or Boando. He answered quite carefully, ‘in Mapanja’, and made out as if it was his intention to take a short cut in order to return the pig to us. But now it was no longer a matter of words. I became witness to one of those tortures that are used here to find out the truth. The arms of the accused were tied to one pole, and the legs to another, and this so hard that blood appeared from the deep cuts caused by the ropes. Many men equipped with switches appeared thereafter, and they started a beating the like of which I have never seen. I had to come forward and interrupt it, but since he still lived, they started another form of torment. Some women appeared with smoking fire-brands in their hands and began a wild, grotesque dance around the accused and while singing urged him to tell the truth, but in vain. Then a scene started that I immediately tried to interrupt, but in vain. The women attacked the accused and pricked him everywhere on his naked body with their brands. In this way they broke down his resistance. He confessed his crimes, while giving the most shrill cries of pain. The torture then stopped immediately, the ropes were loosened, and it was decided that as punishment for his theft he would pay a fine of 10 goats, in value the equivalent of 180 [Swedish] crowns.

Illnesses are few among the Bakweri. Fever is general, but seldom results in death. It mainly affects the head and causes the patient a burning headache. The mountain dwellers often get fever when they have spent a long time on the coast. Pain in the chest and heart are also common. They are, however, not so common up on the mountain as at the coast, where there are villages whose whole population is infected with this terrible disease. It is dreadful to see small children of 1 to 2 years suffer from it with sores in their mouth and nose, and also on the greater part of their face and part of their body. Many children and also many grown-ups die from this disease.

ABOUT THE BA-KWILEH PEOPLE

205

Many have a sixth finger on each hand, others on one hand. This extra finger protrudes from the root of the little finger, is provided with a nail like the others and usually flexible, but often consists of a simple growth of flesh, shaped like a finger with a nail.6 There are quite a lot of albinos. This peculiarity seems to be hereditary within certain families, and the majority are women. The eyes are russet. They look nauseating with their white, sickly skin-colour, which looks nothing like the skincolour of Europeans. A newly born child receives his name after the person who first takes care of it. If a child dies, then the mother blackens her face as a sign of grief. All who have died a natural death are buried inside the house. If a man has fallen in battle or been murdered, then he is buried outside the house at its front wall. A fire is kept burning at the grave during the first four nights after the funeral. When a prominent man dies, inhabitants from a number of often-distant villages come to attend the funeral. All the men, women and children compete in crying round the dead body, and tears fall in streams. It is surprising to see with what skill everyone, not least the small children, understood how to portray a real and moving sorrow. The dead body is wrapped up in a number of beautiful pieces of cloth and is thereafter laid down in the grave, which is dressed with bark and bamboo mats. The funeral of Letongo, the bravest man of Mapanja, who fell in battle against the Mokundo – or Mungo – people last year, at which we the Swedes were present, passed, as one of us already has related, in the following way: When we came to the house of mourning, we found there the whole female population gathered, who by loud crying and passionate gestures gave air to their emotions. The corpse, covered by valuable pieces of cloth, was lying on a bench outside the house. Around him, crying, stood those who were closest to him; they were caressing the dead while over and over again they cried the name ‘Letongo, Letongo’. Deputations from six neighbouring villages soon appeared, all equipped with polished guns and spears; altogether they probably amounted to 300 men. When the grave was prepared – it was just next to the main house – the king of Mapanja appeared and gave a speech, which, from what I could gather, was about the feats of the dead and expressed the grief of the king and the whole village for the loss of its bravest man. A kid was thereafter killed and placed under Letongo’s head, also two goats which were buried just next to the grave. ‘Letongo must have something to eat’, they said sadly. Also some tobacco was thrown into the grave, and they said: ‘He musn’t miss this either.’ The whole population of the village wore only dark pieces of cloth and had, as a sign of grief, rubbed themselves with ashes mixed with oil. I witnessed another, similar, ceremony in Bonjongo on 24th April, 1885. At the beginning of the month the king there, a very old man, had died and left behind, as it was said, extraordinary riches. Already, the same day, they had engaged in songs of grief while drumming and incessant shouting to honour the dead; this continued all night. Large crowds of fully armed men arrived the following day from many neighbouring villages, who, while crying as usual, approached the corpse in order to look at it and who thereafter took part in the shooting. Among the others, the numerous inhabitants of Mapanja appeared, all equipped with rifles. They had seen how German soldiers saluted the flag and also from us received

206

G. VALDAU

some instruction how to shoot in ordered ranks which they now decided to benefit from and decided now to take advantage of the instruction to show the other ‘bushmen’ that they had learnt something from ‘their white men’, as they call us. They all stood in one line, and on the command of King Mosasso – ‘Mapanja, German-monja!’ – they fired one volley after the other to the great surprise and amazement of the others. The main feast was, however, postponed to the 24th April, because it was then full moon. We went there in good time in the afternoon so as not to miss the beginning of the feast and brought many gifts for the new king. The place where the feast would take place was a big open space that had been cleared, and they showed us to our vantagepoint at one end of the space. Opposite us they had erected a kind of stand for the music, which consisted of half a dozen big wooden drums.7 At one of the long sides of the cleared space stood five or six houses, which were built together in a row. In front of and past these there were two rows of sticks, which were attached to the ground; they numbered around 300. At these they were going to tie the goats and sheep of the dead man. When we arrived there were very few people there. We soon witnessed a remarkable scene. Many old men and also other men, among them the kings of Bonjongo, Mokunda and Mapanja, walked in a group and in walked some old women, of which one, who walked in front, carried a clay pot wrapped up in a piece of cloth. This whole peculiar company walked round the open space wildly singing and making strange gestures. One couple were sweeping the ground ahead of them with long brooms, and sometimes the whole company would stop, whereby one of them would take a mouthful of water and squirt it in the faces of the others. The feast was, through this invocation, preserved from all conflicts, which also seldom or never occur at an occasion like this one, even though enemies bump into one another there. The reason for these pleasant conditions is the harsh punishment which is given to the peace breaker. Gradually there were more and more people. Suddenly there appeared on the open space a compact group of inhabitants of Bonjongo, men, women and children, all dressed in very colourful and beautiful pieces of cloth. The group danced round the open space while making the most fantastic movements and jumps. As they were in the middle of this, the Boana people appeared from another direction, and each was carrying leafy branches in their hands, so that the whole group looked like a small mobile forest. The inhabitants of Mapanja appeared almost simultaneously and gathered round a big colourful umbrella, which like a standard was raised above the group. There now appeared from different directions one group after the other, people from Bwassa, Lekumbi, Mokunda and other villages. All those who danced were, as I have mentioned, dressed in colourful pieces of cloth and other finery, and had the whole body rubbed in oil so that it shone like polished mahogany. As well as pieces of cloth, many of the young girls had cloth in screaming colours, little bells round their waists, arms and legs and also a cord round their waist from which long narrow leaves with gaps between them were hanging down, beautifully contrasting with the red cloth. The dance of the girls would start when the moon had come up. All those present, in total 600 to 700 souls, moved themselves singing and dancing round one another, all this while the drums were beaten furiously. Every village kept together, however, and was eas-

ABOUT THE BA-KWILEH PEOPLE

207

ily recognizable because of their dress or other signs. The inhabitants of Bonjongo came past us suddenly, each leading a goat or a sheep. These had belonged to the deceased and were, after they had been brought round the open space, tied to the implanted sticks. The same group returned after a while with an even greater number of sheep and goats, which also were tied to the sticks. This manoeuvre was repeated until there were no more sheep or goats and now almost all the sticks were occupied. They now formed a big open square, inside which King Mossasso of Mapanja appeared and with a high voice praised the big power and wealth of the deceased and proclaimed that all his animals, consisting of cows, goats, sheep, pigs and hens, were 500 in total and that his remaining property, such as pieces of cloth, gunpowder kegs, rifles and so on, also amounted to 500, so that the total sum of his wealth, to the pride of the whole village, amounted to 1000 in total. The tied animals were taken away after this announcement, whereupon the sun set, but in its place, from a cloud-free sky the moon spread its silver-white and, in these parts, very strong light. Now the girls’ dancing started, in which also many men took part and which consisted of the usual dance in a ring. Later in the night they slaughtered around 20 goats and sheep, with which those present were fed. Reverence is also paid to the dead, at least in some cases, for some time after they have been buried and they are remembered through sacrifices. On our first climb up the Cameroon Mountain we arrived at Boando, and as usual we gave their chief, Monika (‘penknife!’), some presents. Among them was a bottle of rum, which made us the witness of a very peculiar custom. Monika filled a wineglass with rum, the only one that there was in the house, and went with this over to his father’s grave. This was placed close to the middle of one of the long sides of the house and was marked by four planks laid down in a normal-sized grave of rectangular shape. In the middle of the place where the head of the corpse rested there was an old broken cup put down so that its upper edge was level with the clay floor. The chief crouched down at the grave and said some words to the dead with a loud voice and then poured some rum in the cup, then he again said something and poured more rum in the cup. In this way he kept on for a good while and every now and then his brother said something that was repeated by the chief. When this ceremony, which the other listened to in deep silence, was over, they emptied the bottle. The chief gave one glass to each of the men and women present. The deceased is believed to live again in the forest, as a baboon. My Englishspeaking interpreter called the ape ‘baboon’ which the English missionaries had taught him. I still haven’t managed to see one, but have reason to believe it to be a species of chimpanzee for the reason that it is very big and like humans it doesn’t have an outer tail.8 Thus the Bakweri believe in a kind of reincarnation, which also includes animals; the sheep are believed to become antelopes after death, because there is some relationship between the latter, as among the former – the males have horns but the females do not. The religion of the Bakweri, if one can call it that, is very difficult to understand, because they have themselves very vague ideas of it. Their two principal gods are O’Basse [Ovase] and Mokasse, the former good, and the latter evil. The notion about them is very unclear. There is no particular place of residence for them, and they seem to exist a little here and there and are neither objects of love nor fear. Besides those two prominent gods there

208

G. VALDAU

are a few of lesser importance, of which the one on the mountaintop, Mongo-maLobe, is the most important. This is called Ifasso-Moto [Efas’ a Moto], which means ‘half man’, because one side is human and the other one stone. Ifasso-Moto spreads out white cloth over his dwelling when a man dies. This white cloth is those masses of snow, which after a tornado usually cover the highest peak of the Cameroon Mountain. A Bakweri would never dare to go up there, because he would without doubt get killed.10 This Ifasse-Moto is also believed to send out the thunder, which they call Lobah [Lova]. The moon doesn’t, however, seem to have anything to do with their religious beliefs. It is true that they arrange dances at fullmoon on many nights in a row, when the moon shines brightly, but only through joy of the return of the light, which hereabouts lights up the so long and dark night. They do not practise fetishism, or any real worship of gods. If the people, as have been mentioned, have rather vague ideas about the mentioned gods, then the many magicians or ‘medicine-men’, as they are called by the English, are on a very good footing with them, and it is in these that the people really believe, to their great misfortune – the medicine man is usually an unscrupulous deceiver, who thoroughly understands how to benefit from the gullibility of the people. If somebody is ill, they immediately say: ‘He is bewitched’, and now they must find out who it is who has bewitched him. His relatives turn to the nearest medicine man, who immediately consults his gods and after having performed his task asks for money in return for the important information. When the medicine man consults his gods, the usual procedure is that he takes out a large bowl filled with water, and in a continuous monotonous mumble calls upon the gods to answer his questions. After having kept on like that for a while, he suddenly changes tactic; he becomes silent as a wall and listens with his ear closely pressed to the bowl of water. After this final manoeuvre he tells the impatiently waiting people what the gods have revealed to him. The most respected medicine men usually drink poisonous, highly intoxicating, potions under whose influence they say a lot of peculiar, incoherent things, which later are interpreted by medicine men of a lower rank. The unlimited trust of the people for the first-mentioned, is explained by the fact that they cannot understand, how a poison, which otherwise has a deadly affect, has proved completely harmless. The matter is self-evident here in the same natural way as in all such cases. The medicine men have started to take the poison in small portions, which they gradually have increased, until they are capable of enduring also larger qualities. The medicine men, however, exercise through their power the most awful tyranny, and since their arbitrary cruelties are considered as divine decisions, there is no possibility of controlling their actions. If a man in a village dies and his relatives want to find out the reason for his death, then the medicine man is consulted. He then immediately gives the name of a person, who straight off is accused and must, through the water-test, prove his innocence. The water-test means that the accused is forced to drink a considerable amount of water. If he is so happy as to be able to vomit the water, he is declared innocent, and his nearest express their joy through firing off several rifle volleys and organize a dance. If the opposite happens, then the cause is lost and the accused is sentenced to an unconditional death. The otherwise so peaceful and good-natured people become then real wild beasts and tear, with heartless cruelty,

ABOUT THE BA-KWILEH PEOPLE

209

the poor victim to pieces. Lately one has managed to induce the people to send those poor creatures who have failed the water-test, to Victoria, where the English Baptist mission will take care of them. According to the tradition of the Bakweri they should formerly have lived far inside the country as a great and powerful people. Because of one reason or another they finally broke up and marched towards the sunset, and pushed away those people that came in their way until they arrived at the sea. Some settled now around the Cameroon river and its tributary rivers – the present Dualla people, others on the mountain – Bakweri and Bomboko, and yet another group further to the north at a place called Colli [Colle], by us known under the name of Rumby and Rio del Rey. There is also one legend that says that, close to their former settlement, there exists a dwarf-like people with tails.

Editor’s Notes 1. But see Ardener, E.W. 1956. 2. Here speaks a young man of 23 years! 3. This fashion was not normally found even among elderly Bakweri women by the 1950s, but earplugs were still common among mature women on the Grassfields, including in Esu where I stayed for a while. Earplugs of polished wood, gunshot cases or M&B pill tins were popular at the time. However, although in the case of many Esu women the septum had been pierced, it was no longer fashionable to make use of it. 4. Mapanja was the exception in Burton’s time (IV, 3). Some sort of low fence or barriers were, however, erected across pathways (see Thomson, IV, 4). 5. For a study of divorce among the Bakweri see Ardener, E.W. 1962. 6. A Bakweri man, Vevange v’Ikome from Bokwango, who sometimes accompanied my husband and I up the mountain in the 1950s and ’60s had six fingers. 7. Permanent stands for drums are still in use at wrestling fields, including at Buea and Likoko Membea. 8. As Matute writes (1988: 44) ‘The Bakweris believe that there is a connection between apes and man. This also goes to strengthen the fact that the child, in his early age, is very close to the family of apes. Accordingly any mention of the word ‘ewaki’ or ‘mojele ngunde’ – a personification of the ape, to a child may produce a convulsion.’A treatment, yowo wanga, is performed to neutralize this. My husband and I were told that young mothers fear their children will be attracted or lured into the forest by ewaki; one mother saying how frightened she was when her baby was born with hair on its face (see Ardener, E.W. 1956). According to tradition, Ewaki, Moto, Eto and Mojili came to the earth from the moon at the same time. They agreed to build fires, and since Moto, who became man, used his intelligence and made a better fire he stayed settled down, while Ewaki and Eto (mouse) retired to the forest and Mojili entered the water. 9. But see Mr Mann’s encounter with a hunter on the height of the mountain in Burton’s account, below (IV, 3)

CHAPTER 2

Epitome of Waldau’s Journey to the Country North of the Cameroon Mountain Edwin Ardener and E.M. Chilver

In 1885 Waldau published an account of a trip he made into the hinterland of Cameroon in Ymer: 271—301) under the title En fard till landet norr om Kamerunberget , a translation appearing the following year in German Eine Reise in das Gebiet nordlich vom Kamerun Gebirge , Deutsche Geographische Blätter (Bremen, Bd 3, 1886: 30—48, 120—41). In both cases he used the German spelling of his name (Valdau). Space precludes a direct translation of the whole text, but I have had at my disposal notes of selections made by Edwin Ardener (being a paraphrased translation , probably from the Swedish text) and by E. M. Chilver (who summarizes from the German text). I have taken material from their manuscript notes to provide an epitome for English readers. It begins with Edwin s paraphrased summary, and continues with an extract from Mrs Chilver s notes. What follows, then, are not exact translations of all of Waldau s words; the full Swedish and German texts are available for those who can access them. It covers the same ground as Knutson does in his memoir, but passages have been included here which give a slightly different slant or which add further interesting details. It should be remembered that such accounts were written when there were no maps; they were primarily travellers guides, giving the names of important chiefs, and how they received visitors, the proximity of settlements and the nature of the terrain. Such detail has been abbreviated. This account is taken up when the party reached Lisoka:

Our people always did their best in all the places we came to, to explain to the inhabitants the guns’ excellent quality, the many shots they shot without needing to be reloaded, their frightening effectiveness even at very long range and, first and foremost, that they were breech-loading guns – ‘metango’ as they call them. This kind of gun is notorious among all the people here and in the country as being

212

EDWIN ARDENER AND E.M. CHILVER

dangerous, and at the same time is very rare and expensive. We only had to mention that all our guns were ‘metango’, and all came to regard us with considerably greater respect and awe. Momange lies about 600 metres above sea level and east of the great Peak. From here a path went almost straight to the north via the village of Moeta to Masuma, where (on 22nd May) we, for the first time on this journey, met the Bomboko language, which like the people is scarcely distinguishable from Bakweri. In Masuma our host, the so-called King, could not provide us with food so we had to buy it; nevertheless he was a shameless beggar and demanded big presents. We only found rainwater and even that we had to buy and that very expensive. Because of rain we had to stay here a day. Outside the village stood a little house, consisting of a roof resting on light posts, about a metre above the ground, with walls of a large, bright, piece of cloth. An eminent man in the village had died and his relatives had erected this house to him, in which he is supposed to live although in an invisible manner. On the floor of the house stood a wooden box, a china dish, mugs and other household utensils, the possessions of the deceased. Similar houses, called ‘libala’, are common in Bomboko. When a brother or other dear relative dies the survivors occasionally erect a ‘libala’ to him so that they can still have him in the vicinity. Likewise if they formerly shared everything they would still do so now. Before the survivors eat of a good dish or drink of the wine he domesticated, they carry a little to the ‘libala’ for him and both brothers help themselves to it. When he takes snuff he first gives a little to the brother before he himself takes a pinch. Against one of our carriers, Wokomia who was a real glutton, the others delivered a speedy complaint. From Momange on they had complained of his big belly and the vast quantities of food he stuffed into it. Now they said: ‘Wokomia no good, takes biggest and best bit of beef, before anyone else gets a little. Wokomia no good man!’. Ndibe always broke the pieces and divided the meat; now before the division Wokomia had appropriated a big piece, which certainly was a crime. In revenge they called him dog and looked for a suitable name. Then a wit hit on calling him Hektor, after a large and very gluttonous dog which Knutson had brought from Hamburg. Wokomia, however, was not a bad fellow; on the contrary he was the best carrier, always went at the head of the column and never complained about the weight of a load. Besides, everyone had great benefit from him in the preparation of food. Should a goat, a chicken or other creature have to be killed, it was always he who was the executioner, with eyes glistening with joy of thinking of the wonderful roast which was to come. When plantains or kokos [cocoyams] were to be got ready by women in the house where we stayed he always supervised, so that it was properly done and that nothing was put aside of one or the other. That his comrades made fun of him and called him a dog or Hektor did not, however, annoy the good-tempered man; he was wise enough to draw benefit from it. If Knutson or I gnawed a bone, he always shouted, ‘Dogs eat bones!’, wherefore he naturally always got the bone to the great envy of the others, since they too keenly desired it. On the 24th we left Masuma, and after a march of 6 kms north bearing east, we arrived at Babinga. There was a path known to many of our men, who had gone

WALDAU’S JOURNEY NORTH OF THE CAMEROON MOUNTAIN

213

on it with the missionaries to Bakundu-ba Bambeleh, there being a path going via Ikata from that place, but the way to Balombi-ba-Kottas was unknown to them, so here we sought to procure a guide. This was also successful finally, after much trouble with the wretched Babinga ‘King’ who, although he on consultation trembled in every limb, was still able to make a long ‘palaver’ over the guides’ pay and, greedy and grasping as were all his ‘cousins’, he himself made a demand for a big gift in return for which he left us a guide. However with patience we set out successfully on the march. After a difficult journey by a bad, ill-cleared path, we arrived at Bafia, a small but pretty village, whose people were not so grasping and shameless in their demands for payment for their products as the previous village, and moreover were kind, and oddly enough, not beggars. The people had been better inclined since we diverged from the missionaries’ usual path, a circumstance that we expected as a result of earlier experience. These missionaries who have plenty of money, spoil the people by making exorbitantly high payment for everything and by giving big presents. Although food was fairly scarce in the village, the king got so much for us, that our people nearly ate themselves to death, given the great hospitality. Water was lacking here too. The following day we set out with new guides. On the road we met the Bafia King’s brother coming from Dievo where he, the day before, had had information of our arrival. We reached an area with many streams, and here and there found deposits of quartz-like white sand. On the far side of one of the larger waterways we reached Dievo, the first ‘street village’, with sixteen well-built houses, with walls of bark. Each house has a stand on four posts for water-pots and a hook above for hanging drinking vessels. Behind each hut was a yard surrounded by plantains and palms. Food included partridges and the dried meat of a dwarf antelope called ‘Jambe’ Making for Barombi-Ba-Kotto, we passed an open space in woods called Basenga – some magic attached to it – then passed Mosange, the last of the Bomboko villages. Elephant tracks were frequent but they were rarer than Comber and others had suggested. We reached the Southern shore of Richards Lake and the island village of Barombi-ba-Kotto. The water was sweet only in the in-flowing streams. Fishers with nets were seen and so were women collecting plantains and water. Food was not plentiful, as Comber says it was, and was expensive. The village was in two parts, on a hill, with two streets almost at right angles. The houses were large and behind them was a yard enclosed by little huts used as bedrooms for women and children, and as storehouses. The men sleep in the large house at the front, where goats and sheep are kept. There were some very large houses with doors or double-doors, fixed to the frames and made of crosspieces – thin and light – hung from the corners with liana-ropes. Folding stools with antelope hide seats were common. Also present, as in Bomboko villages, were a stand for pots, and a sort of primitive table. The population of some 400, belong to the Bakundu [sic]; linguistically they are distinct from the Bakweri. Ndibe got on well with them. The people are very keen to dance and play; we witnessed a play called Ekalé. A grass-covered figure is followed by men with whips. On our arrival a dance was put on with two large and five very fine small drums. [Waldau gives descriptions of the dance in which young

214

EDWIN ARDENER AND E.M. CHILVER

learners seem to be taught by lead-dancers carrying a fly-whisk. No women took part.] The chief said, taking me for Thomson, ‘There are many boys here – you must make a school and teach them book.’ I am mistaken for Thomson everywhere. Some large trees are night-quarters for parrots which fly in at dusk from all directions in huge numbers. They are off again before sunrise. They are regarded as sacred and not disturbed. Mount Cameroon was visible in the distance, its peak in cloud. The island itself, and another tiny one to the north of it, are built of lava. The lake is circular with high banks with no outflowing stream, but only a channel, at least in the dry season. Onward through a thick forest to another street-village, Baji, where we came upon a woman accused of killing her child by witchcraft, and about to be executed. Ndibe released her [see Knutson’s memoir]. The guide escaped. Another was got with difficulty from our host. Then on to a ‘Batanga’ slave-village of Baji. [There follows a description of slavery, which is seen as being fairly mild, although their masters can kill them. They have an independent life on the farms, have their own societies and practise a much more advanced agriculture than their masters – maize and beans are laid out in beds like a European garden. There are night-time guards against elephants, chasing them away with noise and drumming.] A short march to Bakundu-ba-Baka. This is spread out, with large houses – the chief’s was at least 20 metres long. He was accounted rich, with 23 slaves. On his ceiling, between drums and animal skulls, there hung the skull of a slave painted white on each side. At first they were shy, but soon more friendly. Nearby was a river, the Byle, containing small fish, which were taken in a sort of purse-net. We were again mistaken for missionaries and at a meeting next day asked to settle with them and when we explained why we could not, we had to write down their desire for a mission. It is only two days’ march from Bakundu-ba-Nambele, a navigable stretch of the Mungo. Everything here is cheap – for example an adult goat costs eight ‘Faden’ (‘fathoms’, or 1.83 metres) of cloth. Bakundu-ba-Baka produces a lot of palm-oil bought by traders from Bakundu-ba-Nambele and Old Calabar: for the latter this place is the farthest trading place in this direction. In the middle of the broad street were three equidistant ‘idol houses’, as in all Bakundu villages – long, low and wide, often with mortar [clay?] walls. Inside were two poles painted in black and white bands. In some were carved figures, as in Soppo, and in others free-standing human representations, some 1.5 metres high and wearing a dance costume, not of grass (as in Barombi) but of knitted coconut-palm fibre. The hands and feet were bare in these. The headdress can be removed. At the neck were fixed cleverly-made ‘butterfly-wings’ and a thicker, baggy collar – small versions of which were on the wrists and ankles. The costume is usually in two colours, black and white or red and yellow. As well as a whip, present in all displays, a bell is worn on the back which sounds during the dance.1 When a display takes place, as it did in Bakundu-ba-Baka, a lead-dancer is chosen – not unlike the ‘Ekale’. A few dozen men provided a choir, both in the chief’s house and outside. The divinity represented is called Niengbe [Knutson’s Nyangbé], and is chiefly concerned with childbirth and hunting, and barrenness and bad luck in hunting,

WALDAU’S JOURNEY NORTH OF THE CAMEROON MOUNTAIN

215

which require his help. In every Bakundu chief’s house one finds under the roof a large rectangular frame of thin twigs from the corners of which hang palm leaf fibres. These, are named after Niengbe, and signify that the village has laws protected by the god against theft and other crimes. These laws are severe – for example, that which punishes theft is slavery. Leaving this hospitable village we passed two slave villages, the larger one belonging to Ekumbi-ba-Banschi, one of the biggest villages we encountered. Here many women and children were painted with camwood to celebrate a birth. From here to Mbu the path went through thick forest, with many elephants. [There follows a long passage quoting Quintin Thomson’s adventures in the company of Ndibe with elephants. There is a great fear of elephants. The party was honoured by a dance of the womenfolk before leaving for Mbu.] The route from Ekumbi ba Banschi to [Barombi-ba-]Mbu – through thick forest, where there were many elephants – was greatly feared by carriers who once broke ranks and fled back to the village, so we took a different route with fewer elephants after crossing Byle river. After crossing a south-east flowing stream, the Mada, and turning west we reached the large village of Bakunda Bakanbane [sic], being the first whites to visit it. In the chief’s house were a wooden European chair, iron pots and brassware from Old Calabar to which all palm-oil is sent. There was a raised hen-house with steps up to it in the courtyard behind the house. The next short march went through cultivated land to Bakundu ba Boa, which had a stream running through it. The town was as big as Ekumbi, and had much oil. Many Calabar folk were seen, wearing singlets and scarlet or other bright clothes. Some were with wives wearing long, sack-like, dresses like Victorians. All of these Calabar folk were suspicious. Here even more European goods were to be seen. We were unable to get coconuts as climbing was forbidden owing to a recent accident. There were many Muscovy ducks. There were many houses with clay exteriors and some with overhanging eaves supported by poles. One such, belonging to a Calabar man, was decorated with paint on the windows. Behind the chief’s house was a small hut surrounded by posts, which was divided by walls into tiny dark rooms. The courtyard had a rainwater drain. A covered way led to a ‘sham’ house – it had a long wall, already built, painted in black and white triangles, and white ones painted in black with leopards. In the afternoon four armed men brought in to the chief two slaves bought inland; they were not fettered and seemed untroubled. Their price was a large cow = £2. From here the route went to Mbu, which had been visited by Tomczek in 1883 [see IV, 5]. We had to leave many carriers and loads behind, as they feared elephants, taking only six carriers. The route was very muddy, with many elephant tracks and the bush on either side trampled down by them. We had some close shaves. The lake at Mbu seemed larger than the Richards-See but really not much larger, and had no raised central island. On the north-west shore a river, the Säve, runs in. Opposite it lies Barombi ba Mbu (Rogozinski had got the names reversed). The village consisted of 65 houses. Very little stock and no pigs were seen, but many Muscovy ducks. All males fish. Wels (sheat-fish) were found. Pots were made by women from clay which came from a damp place in the bush. In the dry season they were sold round about, and southwards as far as Bakundu-ba-Nambele.

216

EDWIN ARDENER AND E.M. CHILVER

As the village seemed poor, we sent out our men to trade plantains and fish against hooks [or hinges?] which were appreciated. ‘We sought the names of villages north and west of the lake. . . all agreed unanimously that farmed land ended here and forest lay in all directions, teeming with elephants.’ When asked from where tobacco reached them it was clear that they knew nothing about the area to the north but could name many villages on the route to Old Calabar. ‘Contrary to Negro custom they spoke the truth as we later discovered,’ as we had passed the villages they had named. Each got a canoe and went on the lake, Knutson shooting birds (fish-eagle, birds like cormorants, small ducklings, other marsh birds). I took soundings: depth 9–15m at 15m from the shore; further out it was deeper than my 24m plumb-line. The water was clear and pale green. There were low banks on the side of the inflowing Säve, higher on south and on the south-east – 60m high, but there was a broad 90m gap with sheer walls through which water flows – it was called Mokunda-ba-Mbu, Mbu’s tail. The villages have farmlands on the higher south and east slopes. The fish traps were visited, but the catch was found to be very poor – only one fish from ten traps. The next day we went back to Bakundu-ba-Boa without seeing the much-feared elephants. We found the carriers we left behind well fed and cheerful. On 6 June we turned west to unexplored land. At the south-flowing river Klave, we fired a salvo in honour of the birthday of the Crown Prince of Sweden and Norway. The holes left by the bullets alarmed the Bakundu guides. The next stream, the Obe, flowed south-west; on the other bank was a large village, Banga Bombanda, which we passed through, our carriers singing, without stopping. A few Calabar traders went with us to the next place, Banga Ombele, a big village; then the forest started, but the route was good. All oil, going back to Bakundu-baBaka, goes to Old Calabar by this route, on which we met at least two hundred Bakundu who had been to Balundu to trade oil. Each carried in a woven backpack two large calabashes, each containing at least 20 litres, and they said they had sold oil [=8,000 litres] to an Old Calabar ‘king’ there. After a small hill we came upon the Meme River, fast-flowing south; it was as broad as the Obe but deeper. The route went a bit uphill to Banga Lianni, a big street village of 66 houses, where we stayed the night. Most of the houses were plastered inside and out, and divided into small rooms with small doors and window-holes. The Chief had a compound, in which the houses were facing the courtyard with overhanging eaves, supported on poles. There were European wooden chairs in one house and two armchairs. We had first thought of following Comber’s route to Bakundu-ba-Musaka and going home from there, largely because the store of trade goods and tobacco was greatly reduced. Everything was dearer nearer the coast and Calabar, but we were tempted to go the westward route because of wanting to see the unknown rivers and ‘Rumby Mountains’ shown on maps. At Bakundu-ba-Boa nobody had heard of such high mountains, but at Lianni it was said that one could be seen from Balundu. Next morning early we made for Lala [Lake?] Balombi, 6km away, and finally, after twice crossing a winding stream, reached the small village of Balombe-ba-Mokana, consisting of 56 houses with an entrance gate where new guides were recruited. After this we came upon more streams to cross, surprised

WALDAU’S JOURNEY NORTH OF THE CAMEROON MOUNTAIN

217

an elephant, and suddenly came upon a recently abandoned village of 50–60 houses. Its inhabitants had apparently been at odds with Calabar, killed a man, and fearing revenge, fled to the neighbourhood of Bakundu-ba-Nambele. We reached Balundu after a long march – in heavy rain, hungry, exhausted and wet. The guide brought us to the house of the ‘Calabar King’, a two-storied plank house with a courtyard with a sort of veranda surround, where our carriers could deposit their loads. One of the houses abutting on the yard provided a large veranda where the King’s family ate, and his servants slept. A stairway led to the upper floor of the plank house where the ‘King’ lived. A crowd of his servants in bright loin-cloths, shirts, waistcoats and other clothing filled the courtyard and surrounded the steps while we awaited audience with him; most spoke very good English. We were received by the ‘King’ in a rather large room with windows looking on to the street, and doors on either side, furnished with European chairs, and a large table covered with a coloured tablecloth. He was a middle-aged man, wearing the usual loincloth and a cloth coat. After seating us he asked us in bad English what the object of our journey was and our nationality, etc. We answered all these questions and explained that we were making for our home and wanted a guide for the first day going south. After we had repeated this and said we were not Germans, to whom he seemed unfriendly, he began to boast: ‘This country is English, it belongs to Calabar and to me; the town is mine, the land is mine, everything is mine.’ Scarcely able to hide our laughter we replied that we had heard all about the big King of Duke Town and that he was to be found here, which was why we had specially come to visit him. The old fool was flattered, his distrust vanished, and he asked us whether we would take a drink. A pair of smart waiters appeared with glasses and bottles on a serving tray, and we were offered champagne and absinthe. We begged leave to rest and were shown our ample lodging, the ‘King’ repeating that all the houses belonged to him. We asked whether a big mountain existed nearby. ‘Yes, but very distant,’ he replied, pointing S.S.E. We could discern our old friend Mount Cameroon in the sunset. And were there any big mountains elsewhere, and where were the Rumby Mountains? These appeared to be the watershed between the Rio del Rey and Cross River of 350–450m in height and some low hills which might reach a height of 300m. Next morning we called on the ‘King’ to collect the guide. We were dealt with by his son – the latter was quite educated, spoke fluent English and was at home in the geography of Europe. He questioned us closely, asking our names, aims, route, and wrote it all down well enough. According to him it was only two days’ journey to Duke Town by land and canoe. Before we left we were asked to breakfast – the table laid in European style – three young men came in with three or four large wooden platters covered with coloured cloths on their heads. These were removed to show baked plantains and goat stew in gravy, flavoured with pepper, in china dishes. The food was doled out by the host. Before the meal water was produced to wash hands, dried on the tablecloth in the absence of napkins. The meal ended with gin and water with a lump of sugar and a piece of lemon, some muscatel added and a touch of Angostura bitters. Knutson gave the ‘King’ a thankyou present of a telescope, and off we went.

218

EDWIN ARDENER AND E.M. CHILVER

The route from Balundu lay east-south-east. We passed Balombi-ba-Ngongo and reached, not far off, a rocky hill called Likakki Langanjo in a wood, with a sharp fall on one side. This was an unusual site as most of the land was not cut up. After a short march we reach Nganjo Motaka, where we rested briefly. Shortly after we arrived at a stream with milk-white water flowing south-east, the Motunde, and 3 km after met the similar Mari, flowing south-west. After 24 km from Balundu we arrived at our goal Bange, a very big two-street village. We counted 84 houses. We visited the chief and were received by his son, who seemed more important and who lived with Calabar traders, set out on the veranda. The carriers were well fed. Knutson and I ate at table with the Prince and traders. A large bell announced meals, which were in the same ‘English’ style as at Balundu and was prepared by the trader’s wife. We had now left the main trade route for which Balundu acts as a warehouse, and were on a side road, Bange being a local staple. With a Calabar man as guide we continued south, past a small village, Baivo, from where Mount Cameroon was visible; the top was in the clouds. After waiting for a sick carrier we went on to reach Bavo, a very large village with many Calabar traders resident, where we took a new guide. Many streams flowing south or south-west were passed, and then we reached Bavona Janga, heard the roar of waters and were again by the Meme, now a big river, 30m. wide, flowing westsouth-west. The villagers talked of man-killing beasts in the river… perhaps a fable.2 We crossed in some large canoes. Below the crossing there is a 2–21/2 metre waterfall in a wood, audible at a distance at Foe or Baji. We reached Baji [Knutson’s Baije] at sundown – a village rich in cattle and ducks. Another big river, the Fae [Knutson’s Foe], flows north towards the Meme. We left Baji the next day, waded over the Fae, and entered a different landscape – forest gave way to a plain covered with high grass and scattered fan palms, and we got a glimpse of the sea and coast from the middle of it. It made a pleasant change from the forest. But soon we entered forest again, passed over several watercourses, and crossed a broad shallow river, flowing north-west, the Sombe. Across it lay Sombe village, with a camwooded canoe at the entry, used in the rainy season. Red laterite soil was used on houses – 76 of them in a long irregular street; 2 km further we came to Kooke, which had been visited by Comber, and which had 40–50 houses, where we stayed overnight. It is the southernmost Bakundu village on this side of the mountain. The last Calabar folk were seen here. The route was bad now, hilly, through forests and across streams – one underground one going north-west. After a long march we came to another big river, the Oange [Knutson’s Oonge], flowing south-west. 1? km beyond it was a house belonging to the village of Lavala Vinge, whose inhabitants came from a distant village destroyed in war. ‘Blood revenge’ causes lengthy migrations when villages scatter in all directions and resettle in a safer area. This is the reason why there are so many small, unimportant, villages between the ‘Bakwileh’ and Bomboko.3 Four kilometres on we came to a point where a smelly brook joins the Oange river. We crossed it to reach the small, poor Bomboko village of Lame where we stayed overnight. Passing on through a muddy forest route we crossed the clear waters of Ombe stream, the biggest tributary of the Oange and which joins a bigger river, the Longasaki. Shortly after we passed the small villages of Lisambe, Boando and

WALDAU’S JOURNEY NORTH OF THE CAMEROON MOUNTAIN

219

Boma, and reached Likingi. Now we had to hurry as we were almost at the end of our store of trade goods, much depleted at Balundu and Bange. The route now went through endless forest. It became rougher and led along a ridge where there was much quartz. In a wood on a height we found a large canoe with a broad path towards sea on which wooden runners had been laid across to enable it to be rolled down to the sea, 7 km away. Following this we reached a small bay. Our Likingi guide shouted and two small canoes appeared, then a larger one. A few feet above the lagoon was a small hamlet of nine houses called Betikka, which ‘must be a real fever hole’. Forced to stay the night there, we dosed ourselves, and carriers, with quinine. Victuals were very scarce, but the villagers did their best with dried and cooked bananas, a few fish and a cockerel for Knutson and me. The villagers seemed to exist on this spare diet. Their main occupation is prawn-fishing. A number of small villages under the name of Colli [sic, =Colle] catch and dry them for sale to the Bimbia and Victoria people, who now and then come to buy them. We had our worst night here because of mosquitoes. Our people lit a fire hoping to drive them off. We decided to leave early without eating but had to wait till the tide was out to walk along the beach and were unable to get a canoe at an affordable price. The journey was hard for Knutson, feverish despite the quinine. After 7 kilometres we came to another Betikka where we got a canoe for Knutson, at a high price. After another 8 km we reached a small village, Enjange, at the mouth of the Oange. The canoe took us to the other side. The long voyage took us, in bad weather, between the sea and the sandbanks and up a lagoon, also called Oange. Reaching a small village, Livonge, we rejoined the beach till we met a stream leading up to Bibundi. There were sounds of horns and gunfire, and a small and a big canoe arrived to take us there, the bigger one manned by Bimbia lads. We soon arrived and were installed with the ‘King’ – where Bimbia traders have a store. The Bimbia people come to collect palm-oil, this mostly coming from inner villages, among them the wealthy Bomana. I think it would be a suitable place for a factory, especially as there was a gap in the sandbank which would allow access to pinnaces and small river steamers. The village has 30 houses on a street, as is common in Bokoko [sic]. The dwellers are keen fisherfolk but have small and poor canoes. The next day we hired the big canoe for myself, Knutson, and Ndibe, our carrier headman, and their loads, and we sent the rest to walk carrying only guns, to the next stop, Bakingi. The canoe faced high seas and steering difficulties. The canoemen tried various tricks to frighten us and get us and our loads in their power, but obeyed when threatened with a bullet. The uncomfortable voyage included a struggle with a porpoise. Knutson’s fever got worse. We reached Bakingi lagoon just before sundown and it was dark when we reached the village. Knutson and Ndibe went there while I stayed to guard the loads until they were fetched. When I arrived, Knutson was lying in a corner fantasising in Swedish, English and German, in a high fever, while the hut was full of yelling natives. I drove them off and looked after Knutson, with cold compress, blankets and hot tea. The next morning the rest of the party arrived, having lost their way at Cape Debundscha. The next day Knutson felt better and took a large dose of quinine, then we walked along the beach to Batoki, passing several streams, then uphill to the small villages of Bassa and Etome where we stayed overnight. On

220

EDWIN ARDENER AND E.M. CHILVER

June 19 we reached Mapanja via Boanda. On reaching it we fired two salvoes to announce our return and marched in singing, our flag in front, greeted by many acquaintances, and soon saw our house, flying our blue and yellow flag. We were greeted by Gustafsson. We had not had the means to go further and could not produce great results, but at least small additions to knowledge – the Richards lake has no outlet, at least in the dry season; the Rumby or Rumbi mountains do not exist; the course of the Oange has been discovered. The journey lasted 31 days; 55 villages were visited, 27 for the first time by a European. [A geographical postscript follows Waldau s paper: Waldau thought that he had discovered that the Meme was Rio del Rey and that the river shown on old maps as Rumbi was but one part of its delta arms. In retrospect, with regard to his map, he realized that this was a mistake and wrote on 8 March from Stockholm as follows:]

The Meme River of my map is not Rio del Rey but Rumbi, and the watershed we crossed divides the Rumbi from the Mokasse which flows only a few km from the village of Balundu visited by us. During this visit we had no idea of this on account of the disinclination of the natives to show us their trade-routes. The service of clearly establishing these river courses is owed to the Governor of Kamerun, Herr von Soden. He made no less than three voyages with this aim. On the first (16–18 October) I followed him. The steamer Habicht, which brought us there, anchored in 6m of water, after which we went several English miles upstream, to the northwest, in its longboat. When we came to a Calabar village we learned that it led to the creek which went to Old Calabar. We then turned about and followed another creek which, from all indications, was the real outlet. After cruising several hours the dark obliged us to return, without seeing a single living being: the soundings during the trip showed depths of 5–8 metres. Since a riverboat was essential we returned to Victoria. During his third journey on the gunboat Cyclop and the coaststeamer Fan, he visited the lower reaches of the Rumbi and went up the Mokashe to the vicinity of Balundu. He concluded a treaty with the aforementioned King in Balundu, ‘Yellow Duke’, whereby he recognised the German Emperor as his suzerain. The Rio del Rey was studied by the commander of the gunboat. During a seven-day expedition he went upstream in a steam-launch for some 200 miles, enabling it to pass several rapids and falls: the small steam-vessel was got across these places with tow-ropes. While for the first 100 miles no villages were seen, further on the banks were thickly inhabited. The Rio del Rey, like the Old Calabar, takes a big bend to the north and approaches Kamerun in their upper reaches...

Editor’s Notes 1. The sculptures are unknown. Chilver suggests they may be Balong, rather than Bakundu – who commissioned them, however. In 1900 the German officer in charge of JohanAlbrechts-Höhe reported he had confiscated and burned the ‘idols’ thereabouts. Some

WALDAU’S JOURNEY NORTH OF THE CAMEROON MOUNTAIN

221

were even sold to missionaries Bohner and Lauffer (in 1896 and 1898 respectively) in the course of conversion excitement; for more on the ‘Bakundu’ sculptures see Chilver and Röschenthaler 2001. The practice persisted: I remember Rev.Schneider, the most senior Basel pastor in the 1950s, telling me how sad he had been when he felt obliged to burn ‘idols’ brought in by converts. 2. Cf. Tomczek in Petermann 1885: 1380. 3. A glance at the distribution of Bakweri villages, and their relationship, given on a map in Ardener, E.W. 1956, and listed by Matute, well illustrates the dispersal of the villages.

CHAPTER 3

Sir Richard Burton’s Visit to Mapanja, 1861–1862 (Extracts)

Sir Richard Burton, the famous author who, for a period, was Her Britannic Majesty s Consul for the Bight of Biafra and the Island of Fernando Po, left an account of his visit to West Africa in his two-volume book Abeokuta and the Cameroon Mountains, 1865. He was interested in advancing British trade and settlement, and providing opportunities for economic activity for British and other people. His experiences in what is now western Nigeria made him aware that if any of his projects on the mainland were to succeed, provision for health care would be needed, especially for expatriates among whom the sickness and death rate was extremely high. This had been a preoccupation of many on the West Coast, including the Baptist missionaries connected with Cameroon, and continued to be so for many years. Like Saker, he envisaged a sanatorium on the cool heights of the Cameroon Mountain. Burton s account of the six and a half weeks he spent exploring the Mountain gives us one of the first descriptions of Mapanja village. One interesting feature in his account is his confirmation of the difficulty of finding water in Mapanja. It was one reason why the philanthropist Thomson could not build a health centre at Mapanja (see Part IV, 3,4). It is surprising that Knutson does not mention this; but absence of water was a serious difficulty for Mapanja people as recently as 1998, when all water had to be carried by hand from the village of Bonjongo below. The lack of running water was leading to the depopulation of the village and it was only in 1999 that water reached a few standpipes in the village. Burton gives us a lively picture of Chief Botani (Wotani, sometimes Wotany) of Mapanja of that time. Their encounter swings from conviviality to friction, as business deals are discussed. Burton writes with humour, colouring his account in order to entertain his readers, as writers tend to do to this day. Burton, who was by no means averse to the consumption of alcohol,1 makes fun of his merry hosts. Amused by Wotani s choice of clothes, he nev-

224

RICHARD BURTON

ertheless records the bizarre sight of his own party after spending weeks on the top of the mountain. It is a pity that we have no record of what the men and women of Mapanja, on whose hospitality and assistance Burton and his party depended, thought of these visitors and their manners. (However, Knutson does give Bakweri views on Europeans, from time to time.) Bakweri were not totally unacquainted with the customs of people from overseas, for some, at least, of them, including Myombi of Bosumbo, were in the habit of visiting the villages and markets at the Coast, including at Bimbia (with whose people Burton says they intermarried). For long it had been a port-of-call for merchant sailors, and for British naval vessels. And some from Mapanja [= Mafanja] would no doubt be familiar with the small settlement of Victoria, then consisting of two iron buildings and eight timber dwellings. At the market on the eastern shore on every third day people of the islands and mountain slopes met to exchange their salt, tobacco and dried fish for yams, cocoyams, palm-nuts and bananas. A second market took place two miles further towards Bimbia. Small the settlement might be, yet Burton (1863: 59) writes of Victoria as a place of recreation: when the young negresses at Fernando Po wish to make nyanga, as they call a peculiarly junketing picnic, they repair to Victoria . Burton and his companions were not even the first expatriates to climb the Mountain. Although his is the first detailed account we have of the summit, one predecessor, the missionary Merrick, when living at Bimbia in 1844, had climbed part of the way up and left an account of his trip (see Missionary Herald, and Ardener E.W. 1996), as Burton himself knew. The Mapanja notables were not, therefore, totally inexperienced negotiators, and they stood their ground refusing to help in the face of considerable pressure from Burton and his companions when they felt they could not get the fees which they assessed to be reasonable. Despite their modest circumstances, well described by Burton, their self-respect, or pride, prevented them from giving in. Burton and his companions were therefore forced to make do with inadequate porterage. The following text is a series of extracts (not epitomes) from Burton s interesting record of the weeks he spent on the heights of the Mountain, which he describes in lyrical vein. He was there in the dry season, and his account might well have been sombre had he been there in the rainy season — in conditions that nearly led to the death of Knutson and Waldau twenty years later. His account can usefully be compared to Knutson s. NB. Footnotes are Burton s; endnotes are my own the editor s.

Abeokuta and the Camaroon Mountains (Extracts) Richard Burton M. Mann in 1860 had ascended a few hundred feet of the Camaroons mountains [sic],… and he was now girding his loins for a second attempt to scale a mountain… He is a young man of twenty-five, a native of Brunswick, a gardener from the Royal Gardens, Kew, to which he was recommended by the court of Hanover.

VISIT TO MAPANJA 1861–1862

225

Originally attached, in 1859, to Dr. Baikei’s Niger expedition in place of the lamented Dr. Barter, he has been continued as Government botanist in West Africa by the Admiralty, with the ostensible motive of inspecting the timber. ... During my brief delay on the island [of Fernando Po] another volunteer presented himself for the exploration, which assumed the air of a little international expedition. M. Atilano Calvo Iturburu, assessor or assistant judge,... an amiable and not unphilosophic man.… Landing at the Missionary establishment [in Victoria, now Limbe], we found Mr. Saker up and ready: M. Mann had set out in advance, and we agreed to follow him next morning. PRECISELY at 6 a.m. on the next day we arose,… The party consisted of four heads and eighteen tails. Mr. Saker was attended by two men, who carried his bedding, water-breaker, and a locked box of necessaries, such as rice, tea, cocoa, sugar, boiled ham, salt pork, sweet cake, soft bread, salt, chilis, and a pocket-pistol [small bottle] of cognac, which we emptied, and the veteran voyager never took his eye off the commissariat. He was temporarily accompanied by Mr. Johnson, a native of the Susu country, near Sierra Leone, above thirty years a resident in these parts: he had begun life as factotum to Mr. Beecroft [the former Consul], and had settled down in his old age as a teacher in the Camaroons Mission. By his inducement, ‘Money’, alias Muni, a [Bimbia] runaway from King William, who had previously deserted M. Mann, on pretext of his mother’s illness, but who in reality feared capture for debt by the villagers, accompanied us as guide. Judge Calvo travelled with four Krumen, all hopeless convicts from the cuartel of Fernando Po, and his body servant, a youth named Eyo, who had succeeded in escaping the customs which followed the death of his patron, young Eyo Honesty, King of New Calabar. My party consisted of six men, under Black Will, [but]… Black Will soon managed to sprain his ankle, and to return to Victoria. The tail was completed by four Krumen, who had been sent down from the mountains by M. Mann, to convoy a fresh supply of provisions. ... [After some time] we met villagers seemingly on their way to market. The dress of the many was a cotton pagne wrapper; the poorer were clad in the simple attire of the Fernandian Bube,* and of the Eastern Wagogo. A grass string was fastened round the waist, and a strip of cloth was made to act as T-bandage, an isosceles triangle, sometimes tight, and two inches broad at the base, at other times with ends depending in front. The original costume was, I believe, a kilt of plantain-leaves. The stuffs were the common English cloths of barter, satin stripe, blue baft, turkey-red cheques, and a few silk bandanas. The ornaments were the small red and yellow, blue and white porcelain beads general in the Camaroons River; the incisors of the porcupine tied by a thread round the neck, and a multitude of ‘Lobo’-armlets** of brass, copper, and iron, especially the ‘manilla,’ a form now * In Fernandian ‘Bube’ means a man, and ‘E Bube!’, is an address as favourite as the Spanish Hombre. Hence strangers undeservedly called the race ‘Booby.’ ** The Dictionary of the Isubu language informs us that these charms, of which there are many with distinct names, are worn ‘to keep off evil spirits.’As I have repeatedly explained they are worn to keep them in, and they hinder them from wandering about doing harm, as the seal of Suleyman prevented the Jinn from leaving his prison-pit.

226

RICHARD BURTON

well-nigh obsolete. The head was mostly bare, and the shaving, as usual, highly fanciful. A few had culottes of blackened bamboo-splints inside and goatskin outside, and one young person wore a cap of some animal’s intestines. They walked with alpenstocks [walking sticks], between five and six feet long, in shape not unlike the Galician fungueiro. The extreme slipperiness of the clayey soil after rain – I have seen many an old mountaineer on his back both here and at Fernando Po – renders this third leg a necessity. It is sometimes neatly carved, and provided with a round bulge for a snuff-box at the handle. The men carried weapons, old muskets with greasy rags wrapped round the rusty locks, or long broad blades in skin sheaths, ending in a leathern disk, like the daggers of the Somal. Those who could not afford such costly sorts had common ‘matchets,’ thin choppers of base metal fitted with wooden handles. The women were evidently the bees of the social hive; almost all of them were laden with large black panniers of bamboo cane shaped and strapped to the back, except where the place was already occupied by the baby, clinging racoon-like to the parental person, and supported by a foot square of grass-cloth, with shoulder braces. ... The elders were... wonderfully tattooed with a blue, produced, it is said, by the soot of some root and a resinous gum picked up on the shore. The patterns were fanciful sévignés, perpendicular lines down the forehead, artificial eyebrows, – the natural being shaven, – wedges between the optics and temples, circles and wheels upon the cheeks and chin, and similar efforts of high art. The eyelashes were plucked, with the usual unpleasant effect, ... After an ugly pull up rocks and roots, dotted with grass, and bewildered by a labyrinth of paths – our carriers were compelled to rest every half-hour – we entered the district of Bosumbo, and found three scattered tents tenanted by Bakweri. These people do not, like the Fernandian Bubes, congregate in towns: the scarcity of water and petty feuds keep them separate. They do not inhabit the immediate seaboard for fear of kidnappers; nor do they extend up the mountains higher than the banana and the oil palm. Their habitat is therefore, as is the case with the Bubes, between 1000 and 3000 feet above sea-level. Mr. Johnson insisted upon leading us to the tenement of the chief, Myombi, who lives, probably for safety, like most of his fellows, in the centre of his district. At 10.30 a.m. we reached the place, two blocks, each of two huts, surrounded by plantains, and separated by a hundred yards or so. … Presently Myombi himself made his appearance in the glazed hat of a British tar [sailor] – these people must make themselves ridiculous in some way – and showed us a little civility, which time proved to be not wholly disinterested. ... [Eventually] Myombi had been persuaded, by the gift of a pair of matchets, to lend us a guide. ... [Soon we reached] a few scattered huts, called Turu, whose chief came forth and forbade passage till presented with a cloth and a matchet. We then resumed the road... After three miles of hard labour, which made us tremble for our loaded Krumen’s feet, and halt frequently to recruit exhausted nature with anizado and water, the guide suddenly exclaimed, ‘Mboka Botani!’ ([Wotani’s] town). It had an ominous sound; and we were afterwards justified in terming it Botany Bay. The district is called Mapanja. Here every place appears to have two names, its own and

VISIT TO MAPANJA 1861–1862

227

that of its head-man. Presently tall shredded plantains appeared rustling in the now cooler breeze, which was odorous with a salvia bearing a fair blue flower. An African stile, three transverse rungs for steps – sometimes there is a notched palmtrunk – in the dwarf but solid palisade, introduced us to a settlement of two huts, from which unarmed tenants sallied forth with horrid din, to gaze upon us with absorbed stare. During our few minutes séance the judge descried a horn, probably ivory, and proposed adding it to his collection: the owner, however, modestly demanded only a hat, a coat, and a shirt; in fact, he wanted to become a ‘gentleman’. [Soon] we saw upon the summit of a grassy and flowery hill a figure in wide-awake blanket-suit, which proved to be M. Mann. ... [Mr. Mann] led us into a hut which he had cleared out and occupied, supplied us with some bad green water, which he had purchased at the rate of three tobaccoleaves per breaker,* and an excellent pepper-pot of yam and fowl. … [Botani=Wotani], a buxom chief, made his appearance, and M. Mann introduced him as ‘an unusually polite person, quite different from those he had previously seen’. He was a short thickset individual, aged about thirty-five, with a well-turned, hillman’s leg. His complexion, like that of his wives – many of whom had ‘taken venues under their girdles’ [sic]– and his children, who were numerous, was a sallow yellow, a tint rare about the Camaroons River: the contrast with the dark brown of his followers would suggest in Eastern Africa a difference of descent. His brown eyes were bare of lash and brow; his long fat upper lip was clean shaven; his beard was the Yankee goatee; and he had a regulation whisker, tattooed in bright blue. Not less laughable than his personale was this Soulouque’s costume [sic]: a lofty black beaver, a scanty breech-cloth of chequed cotton, and a full-dress coatee, all red and yellow – ‘devil’s livery’ – of the old Royal Marines. Thus attired en roi, he progressed towards the hut-door; and whilst the vulgar squatted upon the ground, shouting a song and beating time, he performed a solemn pavane, ending in a lavolt, a turn-about, a wheel-about, and a jump Jim Crow, in right royal African style. A frantic pushing of palms, as if he would prostrate each new-comer friend, and an accolade, right breast to right breast, were the signs of absolute welcome which our Polichinelle vouchsafed to us. The judge roared with delight; but I felt grave. When the negro king dances he expects the white man to pay the piper somewhat heavily. The edifying exercise concluded, M. Mann told us the tale of his troubles. On the 13th December, after a ‘dash’ of ten ‘little’ – pronounced lill – ‘tings,’ each worth a shilling,** to Myombi and Nangasike, the first and second head-men of Bosumbo, he had left Victoria with Mr. Pinnock,2 Money his interpreter, six Krumen, and a Mokwiri [Bakweri] guide, with seven followers, who had received, as fee for safe conduct to Mapanja, four pieces, i.e. goods worth 4l [=£4?]. Arrived in the evening at the Bosumbo, which he called ‘Bassumba,’ village, he gave the chief his present – an assortment of ‘lill tings’ worth about thirty shillings. The next day was a compulsory halt; the natives, pleading fatigue, refused to proceed, and Mr. Money, having drawn payments to the amount of 2l. [£2] in kind, natu* The head of tobacco, here worth about 6d, contains from ten to twelve leaves. ** ‘Little things’ here means matchets and mirrors, kerchiefs and blue baft, rum and tobacco. The fathom of cloth is also equal to 1s. At Fernando Po the musket costs 15s.

228

RICHARD BURTON

rally ran away. Thus the traveller was reduced to employ as interpreter a boy seven or eight years old, a Bimbia orphan in the service of Mr. Pinnock, and rejoicing in the name of ‘Poor Fellow’. This was the first mishap. Everywhere in Africa the interpreter should be a man of weight and wealth. On the 15th, Myombi again refused passage till dashed to the extent of 2l. in a coat, a keg of powder, and minor articles. Here was a decided mistake, which patience would have prevented. The only return gift was a small black porker, a wretched fowl, and two yams. M. Mann, however, starting at 8 a.m., reached in four hours his Meta Incognita, Mapanja. On the 16th, Botani [chief of Mapanja], who had left home ordering a hut to be cleared for his visitor, returned without pomp or dancing, and received his ‘dash’ – one musket, one keg of powder, matchets and knives, snuff-box, mirror, rum, tobacco, and silk and cotton kerchiefs, worth in toto about 2l [=£2?]. 10s., for which he agreed to supply an escort. On the 17th the chief brought eleven men, and demanded for them each one head of tobacco and one fathom of cloth, besides extra blackmail for himself, a musket, sundry kerchiefs, rum, and tobacco, in value, perhaps, thirty shillings. M. Mann set out at 7 a.m., reached the water, which he afterwards christened by his name, at 5 p.m., and nighted a little beyond it. On the next day, the natives having disappeared, he was accompanied by two Krumen only to a Cone, where he left his maximum and minimum thermometers, and whence he returned – persuaded that he had reached the Peak, which was under a cloud – arriving at Mapanja at the 18th December. It is evident that ten guineas will not pay the expenses of a vacation tour to the Camaroons Highlands, as it has been made to do in Switzerland. ... The Krumen, being sadly tired, asked, after their fashion, leave to play, and sang and danced through half the night. Mr. Saker and I slept in M. Mann’s tent, composed of three blankets, two for the pent-roof, and one for the boot and entrance. The judge and the botanist preferred the hard-knobbed floor of the tent. ... The 20th December was a Friday, and a halt. Mr. Johnson and Money, whose services were no longer required, returned to Victoria, and seven Krumen under Selim Aga accompanied them with orders to bring a fresh relay of provisions. ... We had ample time to cast a look around Mapanja and its population. … The site is a dwarf platform, and the enclosure is 1100 feet across. Curious to say, in this land of chronic skirmish there are no stockades [high fences], the use of which is so well known to Africans. ... It is surrounded by a dense bush, in which the saccharum grows to eleven feet high, and the plantain, the cork-tree, and that locally called gamboge (Psorospermum alternifolium), forming a background. A little below the entrance is the last Eloeis [oil palm], that typical tropical type, here stunted to about thirty feet. The natives, I have said, cannot live without this tree: they tap it for their drink every morning, leaving an empty calabash for the next day’s draughts, and during the operation they make the peculiar laughing, crowing cry, which, echoed by the hills, sounds weird and strange in the wild. They prepare a modicum of oil for household use, and carry to market the fresh nuts removed from the spike. Where the wood opens there is a lovely view. ... The settlement consists of two parallel lines of huts, four on one side facing three on the other, … forming the nucleus of a single street, leading up the moun-

VISIT TO MAPANJA 1861–1862

229

tain. There are also little tracks and passages through the bush to the adjoining villages. The only objects of remark are a few large grindstones, the dwarf trellises for gourds growing at the entrance, and in the centre, propped by other stones, a small basaltic block, hollowed out like a shallow mortar. Before our arrival M. Mann had seen the principal men busy in ‘making Fetish’ to ward off bad luck and to keep the peace. They poured water from a dipper over a small broom placed upon this embryo altar, and offered similar libations on all the roads leading out of the villages…3 The huts are oblongs, with pent-roofs of palm-thatch, and the walls are wattled posts of the strong and fibrous tree-fern, covered with sheets of bark to keep out the wind. Near the outside lie stones and logs, used as chairs, and the experienced eye notices the ominous drum. It is shaped like a large keg, with two parallel slits in one of the long ends, leaving between them a solid bar for handle; the reverse side, upon which it stands, is flattened, and the sticks are a pair of little cudgels. The huts have a single door, but neither window nor chimney. The interior is divided into three: at one end is a dark chamber, serving, I presume, for the father and mother that make the family; the centre is the hall, &c.; and the other extremity may be called the kitchen, containing a rough hearth and an upper platform, below which meat is smoked in a hanging tray, and above which fuel is stored. Furniture there is none; the beds are coarse hatchet-hewed planks four feet long, and placed upon cross-blocks. Cleanliness is the last thing thought of; the ceiling looks as if painted with coal-tar, the air reeks with smoke,4 and the floors show that sheep, goats, and poultry pass the night with their owners. Under such circumstances life is necessarily simple. These gymnosophists have no want [lack] of food and drink, fuel and tobacco. Of course they will not labour, and, if they did, they would be fools. A few hours’ work in the year enables them to burn some square yards in the bush and to plant their banana-stems, after which climate does the rest. The Bakweri rise with the dawn, and shiver till the fire is lit. The men then hasten to their palm-trees, and to assist them in their ascent, carry a hoop made of many kinds of creepers. It is an oval, of three feet conjugate; the part intended for behind the back is broad, that which touches the tree is twisted, and the ends are hooked and knotted together.* In the rainy season it is necessary to cut little steps in the trunk. The women, shouldering their panniers, go forth for food and water. About the latter article there is a mystery. When we ask where they find it, the reply is ‘too far off’, they refuse to show it. We observe that the people grease themselves with palm-oil instead of washing – imagine the consequences! – and that animals are not allowed to drink. They return after some time from various directions, bearing calabashes corked with leaves, and the contents are turbid or green. We conclude, therefore, that their wells are probably stagnant pools, soon exhausted, and that they are then reduced to squeezing ferns, grasses, and dewy plants for their beverage. Presently the little flocks, which have kept up a concert of cries, are driven out by the boys to graze. The goats, like the Camaroons ‘Egbo’, are superior to those of the coast; the sheep are of the lanky, hairy, thin-tailed kind, * This hoop shows the connection of the Fernandian ‘Bube’ with the coast tribes opposite. Other races, like the Kroomen, ignore such means of ascent, and fell the tree.

230

RICHARD BURTON

resembling dogs rather than South-downs. These animals are greatly valued by the people, who will not sell them except for exorbitant sums; they are better treated than the children, and are used chiefly to pay ransoms, to settle palavers, or to serve as stock when ‘trust’ fails. They are never milked, and when we applied for a little of the article [i.e.milk] the answer was, ‘King he no will!’ The poultry is plentiful and good, but hardly to be bought. I saw amongst them the short-shanked African variety, black and yellow game-birds like those of Tenerife, and a breed of hens with spurs like cocks. Each village contains half a dozen long-legged pigs, somewhat like the black hogs of China, which are as familiar to the hut and as foul to the street as the Irishman’s best friend.5 A few prick-eared curs are also bred for the table and for hunting purposes. The children are numerous, and the high birthrate amongst savages is the best test of prosperity, as increased infant mortality is the surest sign of civilization.6 At 8 a.m. the villagers break their fast. The food is ‘fufu’ of plantain, pounded and made into paste with water; it is eaten with a kind of ‘palaver sauce,’ palm-oil, yam, hibiscus (Corchorus olitorius, the Egyptian mulukhiyah), and, when they can get it, ‘bush-meat’. The women work through the day; the men pass their time chatting, smoking, and taking snuff, sleeping, brawling, and drinking – when rum is not to be had – palm-wine, which is boiled for greater strength. At 3 p.m. the flocks are folded, and at 4 there is a dinner like the breakfast. Wood and water are again brought in, and at 8 P.M. the village is as silent as the grave. Thus – Les jours qui viennent et vont Se refont. ‘What a wretched existence!’ the European reader will exclaim. I vehemently doubt this. The so-called reflecting part of Creation will measure every other individual’s happiness or misery by its own; consequently it is hoodwinked in its judgment. Considering the wisdom displayed in the distribution and adaptation of mankind, I venture to opine that all are equally blessed and cursed: both sexes and every age, the great and lowly, the rich and poor, the robust and the confirmed invalid. Some temperaments enjoy more acutely, and suffer in proportion; others are less sensitive; both, however, it appears to me, have the same sum total of felicity. ... The chief Botani had shown himself most eager for his ‘hansel’, and we persuaded him with difficulty to wait till 11 a.m. He then appeared in great hurry, armed with what the Chinese call the ‘divine utensil’, his symbol of chieftainship, his throne – a stool. We presented him in due form with his ‘dash’, – one mirror, two knives, two cutlasses, two heads of tobacco, one cotton kerchief, one silk bandanna, and a 10-lb. keg of powder, the latter here worth as many shillings. Though accompanied by his confidant, whose eyes expressed infinite greed, he appeared satisfied, emitted sundry ‘meditative grunts of much content,’ and in sovereign self-satisfaction retired with his easily-won, ill-gotten gains to speechify about his grandeur as protector of all the whites, and to get tipsy. The consequence was a lively scene. Botani had been ‘fresh’ in the morning, and unpleasantly civil. In the bonhomie of his early drink, not having the fear of Allah before his eyes, but being moved thereto and seduced by the instigation of

VISIT TO MAPANJA 1861–1862

231

the Shaytan, he had offered me – not en tout bien et tout honeur – his daughter, a small yellow child, about twelve years old, and seemed thunderstruck by my refusal. Continence, everywhere a rare and difficult virtue, is regarded by barbarians – despite what Dr Livingston asserts – rather with contempt than with respect. He had been treated like a great Mogul, and with a few glasses of rum he became a Great Mogul. About 2 P.M. he rushed out of his hut, with drawn dagger, and began the war-dance. After a long brawl he laid forcible hands upon the small interpreter ‘Poor Fellow,’ and swore that he would seize him for Money’s debts. When in this state, and only then, these negroes, losing their sense of fear, become dangerous; at other times they are not more formidable than hyaenas. M. Mann, though unarmed, pluckily enough pulled away the boy and drew him into a hut. Botani then rushed to the war-drum, and commenced a frantic pas de charge; the women – ominous sign! – slunk into the bush, and the men provided themselves with knives and muskets. Mr. Saker and I had taken up quarters for the day in a hut opposite that occupied by our companions. He began to harangue the people in Isubu, a language which the Bakweri, who intermarry with the Bimbias, understand, and the rest of us had recourse to our revolvers. Presently a diversion in our favour arose. An old hunter, who had led the botanist up the mountain – we called him ‘Balmat’ – came forth, armed like the rest, and addressed furious reproaches to his chief, who was running to and fro like a vicious madman, hoping that we might bolt, but fearing to begin the fray. After much of this display, Botani’s brother, i.e. confidant, addressed us civilly and, after a long speech, split a plaintain-leaf into three pieces, which he severally deposited in ‘Poor Fellow’s hand, – a kind of memorandum of how much ‘trust’ was owing to the village.7 Botani then pressed palms with all around, once, twice, and thrice, as men about to be hanged are wont to do; the strangers, who had flocked from the neighbouring settlements at the sound of the war-drum, departed, and the women reappeared. Our doughty chief then retired to sleep off his rum. When all was over, we pulled out our revolvers from our breeches-pockets, and made signs that next time their use should be made manifest. Liquor was the primal cause of this trouble; there were, however, others. The Judge, wild with delight at escaping Fernando Po, had been a little over-intimate with the people, dancing with them, and making them laugh, under the erroneous impressions that it would win their good graces. Familiarity breeds contempt in Africa as well as in Europe, and the fun ended in horseplay, chiefly beard-pulling. It was a misfortune, but inevitable, that we had a child for our interpreter. But it was a great mistake to encamp in a central village; we should have followed the East African plan, and either have bivouacked outside, or at any rate at the further end of the enclosure. A profound calm succeeded this tempest. We passed a pleasant night… ‘Poor Fellow’ spent the time in fear and trembling, whilst the Krumen armed themselves with matchets, and begged for candles, which we refused; they retired doggedly, and probably spent hours calculating whether in case of desertion they could steal a boat and make some ship, where they would have been thankfully received. A.M., on the morning of the 21 December, Selim Aga returned with his small command from Victoria. Unhappily he was accompanied by the chief

232

RICHARD BURTON

Myombi, who had behaved badly to M. Mann, and the chief was moreover ‘sprung’… The beery Botani was this morning as tame as one when liquor is dying within him; he was sitting upon the stool of repentance with a very hangdog look. … After a long consultation, ‘Poor Fellow’ was directed to inform us that the price of ascending the mountain was 500 ‘big tings,’ i.e. 500l. But we had now seventeen Krumen besides our five selves – a force too strong for the Bakweri; ‘ultimate sovereignty resides in the right arm of man;’… ‘Poor Fellow’ was told to say that we were tired of this ‘fool talk’, that we would not pay another farthing, but advance by foul, if not by fair means. The reply was that we should not have carriers nor guides. ... We rejoined that… we would go it alone; and pointing to Myombi, who frequents the market at Victoria, we made him understand that he should answer for this ‘palaver’… But [eventually] as neither eloquence nor gestures appeared to produce the least effect upon the mule-like Bakweri, we suited the deed to the word, arose, and prepared for departure… Botani and Myombi had many confabs… The great men at last retired under a plantain clump at the side of the village, and eyeing our proceedings with the superiority of sarcasm, declared that we should never find the way, and that if we did our valuables would be abandoned. Our loads were for twenty-five men, of whom we had only fourteen. Presently all departed, leaving only the women, children and four-footed animals in the village… not being able to take all, they would take nothing. … A little after midday we sent forward up the Hill of Difficulty our first detachment under Messrs. Calvo and Saker, ordering the Krumen to return after finding a camping-place in the bush. … The distance was little more than a mile… [But] only nine Krumen… returned, five having shirked duty. … [W]e reduced all the weight we could, still two loads lay hopelessly upon the ground. At that time, however, some of the humbler sort of villagers began to show, and amongst them ‘Balmat’ [who] found for us, however, two youths. … Only one did his work manfully. … [After many days exploring the mountain, bearing the ‘hard, dry, piercing cold, that seemed to mock at clothing’ with ‘the bitter north-east gusts coursing restlessly down the “wind-loved” gully causing cramps and shivering; and with the stony ground, sharp and sloping’, which ‘made hip bones ache’, they walked by day ‘under the merciless rays of the flaming sun’, until finally – at 1.30 – Burton stood upon the summit of the Peak,] ... .To record my claim I heaped up a small cairn of stones, and in it placed a fragment from the facetious pages of [the journal] Mr. Punch, perhaps the greatest traveller on record, and certainly one of the traveller’s best friends… The descent of the Great Peak occupied thirty minutes... In the morning the travellers were distinguished by the looped and windowed raggedness of their dress, and by hobbling about like cheap ‘screws’ after a long hunting-day. Beyond sun and wind-burned hands and face, my companion suffered nothing, and speedily recovered from his sprain. But in an evil hour I had set out in a pair of loose waterproof boots, which began by softening and ended by half-flaying the feet. It was a spectacle next morning when they were removed. ... My case concluded with a little ague and fever, and I was unable to walk for a week, a fortnight, a month, thus losing thirty days out of forty-six. Thus the exal-

VISIT TO MAPANJA 1861–1862

233

tation of the day was succeeded by the depression of the morrow, and unusual pleasure brought its own penalty. On the 4th January the reconnoitrers were delayed till 7.30 for water, of which two breakers came instead of one. ... M. Mann’s party moved at 9.30 A.M.: they saw a strange apparition. On the opposite side of the crater stood a native hunter, with his two small prick-eared curs, adorned with bell necklaces. The man was habited in a rug round the loins, and held nothing in his hand but a staff or spear. These tribes ignore the bow and arrow. The poor wretch halted, spell-bound, which is not to be wondered at, by the sight. Evil spirits in Africa are white and ugly, by the same rule that they are black and ugly in Europe; and he must have thought himself in dire proximity to what we should term the Devil. Perhaps he saw before him the Great Pale Face, who haunts the big water, guarding the treasures of the mountain8 ... M. Mann, wishing a sketch, motioned him to approach: he waved an emphatic negative, tossed his arms, and simultaneously shouted, with a peculiar wild cry, to his dogs, who were drawing near the strangers, making them turn to the right-about, like a file of soldiers. After this he fled wildly down the hill-side, and was seen no more. The Bwea [=Buea] people, on the east of the mountain, and the mountaineers generally, travel high up. ... Myombi and Botani had been harangued by Mr. Johnson upon the folly of illtreating white men who could close the market to them: and this threat of what is to an African the worst of penalties, made both chiefs and people exceptionally civil. They had persuaded two Bosumbo men to carry part of the loads to Mapanja, and a few leaves of tobacco had induced old ‘Balmat’ to accompany them to ‘Ridge Camp’. They had also found a short cut between Bosumbo and Mapanja, enabling them to avoid the long eastern détour over bad ground which we had made during our ascent. They had performed the journey in fifteen hours and fifteen minutes of actual marching, and Mr. Saker estimated the distance at twenty-three miles.9 [On the] 25th January, M. Mann returned. ... His health had been restored by a diet of iron-rust burned in brandy or rum, and cold arrowroot tempered with chalk, the prescription of the good Mr. Johnson. ... Monday, the 27th January – exactly a month from the day of my accident – was appointed for our final ascent, and for the ceremony of taking possession. The party consisted of M. Mann and myself, Selim and half a dozen Krumen carrying water, provisions, and sleeping tackle. ... We started early. … The distance was short, and we presently gazed into the depths where brooded Nox omnibus nigrior densiorque Having thus reached our goal, Selim hoisted on the ‘very lip of the volcanic lion’ the Union Jack, and our last bottle of champagne was emptied in honour of the day. As a token of our visit we left a slip of sheet-lead upon which our names were roughly cut, and two sixpences in an empty bottle – rather a bright idea, not emanating from my pericranium. Mongo ma Loba, Theon Ochema is now ours. Here, then, was a discovery. Camaroons Mountain... has the high distinction of being the only mountain on the body of the great continent whose fires have not wholly been extinguished, which still Spirat inexhaustum flagranti pectore sulphur

234

RICHARD BURTON

Nor is there any cause to doubt that it will in some future time break out again. ... Mr. Lilley, a trader who resides near the Camaroons River, says that he has seen flames near the summit. This might have been accounted for by the practice of the natives, who set fire to the grass in the dry season for the purpose of catching wild animals; but several of the principal natives of Bimbia declare that, about the year 1838, ‘fire came out of the ground’. They said ‘God made it,’ in contradistinction from that caused by the burning of the grass. They all saw it, and at Mongo they felt the earth shake like a steamboat. The people feared that it would kill them all. On the morning of the 30th January we parted… A hot walk led us to camp: … all our belongings were as wet as the forest. …Selim and I lighted a fire... I was beginning... to feel for M. Mann, when his voice was heard in camp, At 11.50 a.m., on Friday the last of January, 1862, after thirty-nine days from the 23rd December comfortably enough spent there, I left Spring Camp ... [We] bade adieu to the open fernery and plunged into the dense forest, ... The descent here was detestable: slides of clay, drops and falls, a cordage of Llianas, and a network of treeroots, made it longer than the ascent. It was 9.30 before we entered Mapanja. ... Old Balmat and the valiant Botani – we called him Sángo á Lobángo, ‘Lord of Lies’ – met us in the grass lane outside the settlement, and seemed not to know what countenance to assume. I had made up my mind to night there, but, singerlike, [I] required no end of friendly pressing, which was duly administered. My consent was given coyly, and only on condition that provisions, fuel, and water should be supplied reasonably. There was an attempt to extract cloth by means of firewood from Mokárá:* this, however, failed, and soon we saw at our feet a fowl, together with kokos and a large plantain-branch for the Krumen. The hut formerly occupied supplied us with ‘a refuge and a Bethel’ for the night. The air was cold, the hens would force their way to the wonted roosting-place, the hungry sandflies were unendurable to any but a pachyderm, and the bossy dirty floor caused hours of insomnie. On Sunday the 2nd February I left Mapanja early, escorted honoris causâ by the chief Botani. Our pace was sharp,… Tátá, the chief of a little hamlet below Mapanja, actually ‘dashed’ me a fowl, which was carried off in triumph for Mrs. Saker at Victoria. At ‘Logo,’ a large clearing with nine huts near the Turu district, I found the Krumen, who had preceded us, standing with their loads at the edge of the bush. A fellow, armed with a musket and a sword, had levelled at them and caused the halt. His object was of course to make them cast their packs and fling themselves into the bush, under which circumstances the whole village would have turned out, and the matter would have become serious. ... My gang knew that the danger of being shot was problematical, but the punishment of desertion was certain. Near Logo we passed on the right a little hut neatly built of new bamboos, and the doors were adorned with inverted T’s of white chalk. It was probably a meeting-house or lodge for the Dyengo, an initiation like the Jengo [Liengu] of the Camaroons River, which admits the Konja, or free-born, of both sexes.

* Mokara, plur. Bakara, in the languages of this mountain and river means white man. May it not be the origin of the American negros’ Buckaroo man?

VISIT TO MAPANJA 1861–1862

235

At 9.45 A.M. we made Bosumbo, where the drunken chief Myombi received us with a civility bordering upon servility. The water of the rivulet near this settlement was delicious after the moss-juice of Mapanja, which tainted even green tea. ….at 2.30 P.M. we passed through the double palisade of tree-trunks which defend the new colony of Victoria Junior. My first steps were directed towards the Ethiopic Ocean, where, without the ceremony of disrobing, I walked straight in, compelling the Krumen to do the same. Mrs Saker… received me with her usual kindness, and provided us with a boat for the Camaroons River. I left Victoria on 4 February 1862, with a sigh. Farewell, Camaroons! Farewell, beautiful heights!… Adieu! happy rustic wilds! where I have spent so many pleasant weeks, even in West Africa. Adieu! and may adieu in this case bear all the significance of au revoir!

Editor’s Notes 1. He reports that Merrick died of ‘a confirmed teetotalism: in these lands the habitual water-drinker is even more short-lived than is the habitual drunkard’. Quoting Dr Morehead, author of ‘Diseases of India’, he says that ‘the occurrence of hepatitis, … in its severest form, is not an unusual event in persons of temperate habits’ (p.50). 2. For Pinnock see Ardener, S.G. 1968. 3. Brooms made from the spines of palm fronds are still given symbolic importance and are presented to honoured visitors. 4. Necessary as a wood-eating, or man-eating insect repellent, and as a food preservative. 5. Presumably he means a pig – a joke! 6. By the 1950s the Bakweri were convinced they were dwindling in numbers – ‘dying out’. Accordingly Edwin Ardener conducted a survey, the results of which suggested that they were probably then just maintaining their numbers (see Ardener, E.W. 1962). Their fertility was low compared to most West African peoples of that time. 7. This method of decision-making is still used when settling marriage payments. 8. This appears to be a reference to either Efas’a Moto, or Yoma Ndene (Half Man, or Big Thing) – mythical beings who inhabit the mountain. 9. These estimates are not reliable.

CHAPTER 4

George Thomson’s Stay in Mapanja 1871–1879 Shirley Ardener

We have a description of George Thomson by John Whitford, who travelled along the west coast between 1853 to 1875 and met him in Cameroon: ‘As a man of talent and large-heartedness, [Thomson] left his home, where he was a prosperous architect, to establish a sanatorium… Meantime he has become a father to the Victorians being patient to a degree with them, … and, both by his purse and good example, aiding and forwarding their moral and material prosperity’ (Whitfield 1877: 305) From the memoir by his nephew in 1888, we learn that George Thomson was born on 26 May 1819 near Glasgow, the nineteenth son of John and Elizabeth Thomson. He was an architect by profession, who was drawn to scientific and philanthropic work. After Richard Burton’s book was published it came into the hands of George Thomson, then forty-four years of age. He was aware of the importance of medical provision in Africa by the death of his brother, a missionary in Sierra Leone, and other missionary acquaintences. He took up the idea, so often proposed, of building a sanatorium on Mount Cameroon. After visits to Calabar and Gaboon, he arrived in Cameroon in December 1871. He soon made two trips prospecting for a site up the Cameroon Mountain, and up Clarence Peak on Fernando Po, before returning to Victoria (now Limbe). He was not an ordained missionary and believed the progress for Africans and the success of missionary endeavour would best be supported by trade as well as education. This interest in trade was not popular with all traders, expatriate and Cameroonian, nor with all missionaries, but he persisted. He used his practical skills in buiding works. He was to find himself caught up in the problems of daily life in Victoria – acting as President of the Victoria Court in succession to Mr Pinnock.1 It was not long, however, before Thomson was up in Mapanja village with his Krooboy Tom.2 His nephew reports that he was much pleased by the people, in whom he had utmost trust. He said he went to sleep troubled by nothing but the

238

SHIRLEY ARDENER

Figure 18: House built at Mann’s Spring (1878) (Thomson 1881)

cold. Although living higher up the mountain than any other expatriate of that time, George Thomson was not the only philanthropist from overseas living on the mountain then, since he had a near neighbour, Quintin Thomson (no relation), whose land contract with the people of Bonjongo (a little below Mapanja) had been witnessed in 1872 by, among others, George Thomson himself.3 Quintin was then about 31 years of age (having been born in 1840), and younger than George was, but he had been in Cameroon longer, having arrived in 1864. Both he and his father-in-law Alfred Saker, who had moved to Victoria from Douala in September 1972, were keen to support George Thomson’s enedeavours, each subscribing £100 ( a large sum in those days) towards it. Having secured ground on which to build a house in Mapanja, Thomson tried to try to find the source of water, about which (as in Burton’s day) the people were rather reticent, ‘partly it was said because they feared they would lose the money they were wont to gain by selling water to the white man’. Accordingly, on 11 February 1873 he set out, and while still among the trees, and after sleeping in caverns so low in the roof that ‘it was a matter for congratulation that their noses were not skinned during their sleep’, he discovered a small but refreshing spring. This discovery convinced him to stay for a while in Mapanja. He liked the position, the climate and the confidence and goodwill of the people. Indeed the head-man ‘dashed’ him a hog. This gave Thomson the opportunity to invite everyone to a village feast, at which the German naturalist, Buchholtz, was present. ‘After they had finished feasting, the whole inhabitants betook themselves to games.’ But water remained a problem, as his little spring was liable to dry up, and together with his namesake from Bonjongo, set out to find another source. This George and Quintin

GEORGE THOMSON’S STAY IN MAPANJA 1871–1879

239

eventually did: ‘white foaming water [which] rushed down an almost perpendicular cliff into a deep pool,’ where it foamed and boiled, before dashing down out of sight. The guide said it came from the little Cameroon Mountain (Etinde). Water had been found, but too far from Mapanja to be of use to Thomson. Soon after he had settled, he copied Quintin in opening a school in his village of residence. Anxious not to embarrass his neighbour, it is reported that when his sister and niece had offered some gifts of clothing for the Mapanja school, he refused them on account of the effect such gifts might have on the attendance at the Bonjongo school. He reported in a letter home, that his school at Mpanja seemed to be getting on well. He employed Kufela4 (Captain Burton’s ‘poor fellow’, now named Richard Cooper) as his teacher and catechist. Burton (in December 1861) thought he was 7 or 8 years old, making him 18–20 years by this time. He is described by Thomson as being, in 1872 or ’73, an amiable and pious young man, with whom he had to the end the highest reason to be satisfied. He wrote home saying Richard Cooper, the teacher, so far as I can judge, is well fitted for the work, having a fair knowledge of English and Bakweli [Bakweri – more properly mbos’ a mokpe]. The attendance is various, sometimes half a dozen, and at other times as high as fourteen. I have arranged with Mr. Q.W. Thomson that he should take the oversight of the school, and of Richard’s evangelistic work. In this way more good is likely to result, and less likelihood of jarring. As there is great jealousy between the different towns, it would not do for one to have advantage over the other.5

Thomson is distinguished by having used his architectural skills in about 1874 to build what is probably the oldest permanent structure existing today in this part of Cameroon – ‘Brookmount’ which lies at the mouth of the river after which the town of Victoria later became known (Limbe). A photograph of Brookmount can be found in Historical Notes on the Scheduled Monuments of West Cameroon (Ardener, E.W. 1965). Thomson continued to visit Brookmount to pursue his activities including trade, and the latter brought him into some conflict with the coastal traders, especially the Isubu of Bimbia, who were used to large (100%) profit mark ups. ‘A solemn deputation waited on him, and presented a formidable list of the losses they had sustained through his trading [directly] with the Mpanja people. That, however, was at length arranged, though in a way greatly more suited to the inclinations of the petitioners than to Mr Thomson’s monetary interests’ (Memoir, p. 140). Confirmation is given, once again, of the care and discrimination shown by Cameroon traders, whether engaged in international markets or within the village. The trouble taken by Thomson to sell his goods can also be illustrated from his nephew’s memoir (pp.135–6). Beads of a special shape and colour were at Mpanja and Bonjongo the only recognized beads of trade. As [Thomson] had got others which were much better, he strove to get them equally received in return for goods. For this he combined the two kinds of beads in patterns for necklaces, and presented them to the chief ladies of the village. Even more commonly used as a medium of exchange is the tobacco leaf – and very particular are the Bakweli market-women as to leaves. Scarcely would a grocer in a coining district [sic] scrutinize a suspicious sixpence more than they do a tobacco leaf. … Sometimes, when a market woman is offered a tobacco leaf she will first look at it carefully

SHIRLEY ARDENER

240

all over, on both sides, and so slowly that one begins to think she has discovered some mysterious inscription on it, and that she is deciphering it with difficulty. Next she smells it, then holds it up to the light, and tests its toughness; then, without pronouncing an opinion, she passes it on to her neighbours, who each subject it to the same weary process of scrutiny. The result of the whole may be that it is handed back into the hands of the person that offered it, with the assertion in broken English that it is ‘no good’.

George Thomson had with him in Mapanja, besides his dog, a Cairn’s terrier, no doubt brought from Scotland, a donkey named Jock, later to be augmented by Ben, as well as fowls, sheep – including two (at least) rams imported from Madeira – and a billy goat. Unfortunately George Thomson, despite having his relatively healthy retreat on the slopes of the mountain, succumbed to illness. His death was reported by Thomas Johnson and Quintin Thomas as on 14 December (Missionary Herald, 1879: 72–3). ‘Brookmount’ was taken over by the Mission, and became the residence of Quintin Thomson, whose own death in it on 27 December 1883, was recorded by Thomas Lewis (1930). It is still (2001) occupied by a minister of the church – now by a Presbyterian. This continuity would surely have pleased George Thomson, were he to know of it.

Notes 1. For further details of Pinnock, and his photograph, see Ardener, S.G. 1968. 2. He reported how young Tom had quietly laid out his own blanket to warm Thomson, ‘a simple act of kindness and consideration done so unostentatiously’. 3. This contract is set out in Ardener, S.G. 1968, text and endnote 126. 4. The names ‘Poor Fellow’ and Cooper were probably both derived from mispronunciations of his true name – Kofela Njuma Ngomba. The full name is given in Victoria Southern Cameroons 1858–1958 (Wright (ed.) 1958: 18); it was probably supplied by E.K. Martin. See also Ardener, E.W. 1996: 51ff for Merrick’s interpreter, Copper, otherwise Cooper, father of Richard. 5. Bonjongo now has an extensive Catholic Church and educational complex, the splendid historic Catholic Church having been begun in 1894. Bonjongo now outstrips Mapanja in population and in political importance, housing as it does the old native court buildings, and providing the chairman of the local council. Both have been greatly outgrown by Soppo (Small and Great) and Buea.

CHAPTER 5

Stefan Sczolc-Rogozinski Shirley Ardener

Rogozinski was born in Poland on 14 April 1861 in Kalisz. According to enquiries made by the British of their Ambassador in Warsaw, Stefan, or Etienne, Rogozinski was seen as being of a respectable Polish family, a man of honour held in high esteem by his countrymen. At that time Poland was part of Russia. He was, however, of German/Polish descent, his father Ludovic Szolc being owner of a textile factory while his mother was Malvine the daughter of a Warsaw pharmacist named Rogozinski.1 According to Baginski (1944), he was educated first in the German school at Breslau (Wroclaw) and completed his training at the Russian Naval School in St Petersburg, subsequently going round the world in a Russian naval vessel. On 13 December 1882, then aged twenty-one, he left Europe with two friends, ostensibly on a scientific journey, but with the secret intention of founding a settlement, a Free Fatherland, for emigrants from Poland, then under the Russian yoke. His companion Klemens Tomczek, was from Poznan, while Leopold Janikowski, a geologist, came from Warsaw. Their journey to Cameroon took them four months, but soon after arriving on Fernando Po on 16 April the three companions acquired the island of Mondoleh for their scientific station. Possibly this was among land ‘bought’ from the Wovea people for £55 (see Ardener, S.G. 1968: 69). Described by the British Ambassador as a ‘sort of Freelance’, he was said to sport a visiting card when in Africa which read ‘Etienne de Sczolc (Scholz) Rogozinski, chef de l’expédition africaine en recherche des lacs de Liba-VarsovieAfrique, Cameroons’. The report noted he was considered by some to be brave and enterprising, and that his countrymen honoured him for his exploits by being made an honorary member of the Warsaw Rowing Club. On 1 July, three months after settling on Mondoleh, the three young men set off for the Mungo River. Reports of this trip appeared in print. In October (1883) Rogozinski wrote a letter from Bakundu in the forest hinterland, which arrived in

242

SHIRLEY ARDENER

Berlin on the last day of December, and was subsequently published in Globus (Vol.45: 44–5). A longer account of this journey appeared in Petermann’s Mitteilungen aus Justus Perthe’s Geographischen Anstalt, [PGM] Bd 80, (pages 1132–29) of 1884. Rogozinski’s account, entitled ‘Reisen im Kamerun-Gebiet’, had the dateline Bakundu-ba-Nambeleh Oct. 1883. According to it he set out up the Mungo River with Tomczek on 13 August, at the height of the rainy season. He describes his visits, the condition of the paths, the rivers, waterfalls and lakes and the villages he passes, partly following the footsteps of Comber, whose visit the people remembered kindly. After these adventures Rogozinski and Tomczek arrived home on Mondoleh in time to see in the New Year. After a few weeks rest they set out, on 27 February, for a few days exploration of the rivers flowing from the mainland into the sea, and then on to visit the villages of Upper Mokunda, Boando and the peak of the small Cameroon Mountain. On returning Tomczek fell ill and he died of fever on 20 May 1884, being buried on Mondoleh Island (Baginski). During the 13 months he had spent in Cameroon, he had prepared a dictionary of the Kroo language, and collected in seven volumes his notes on the places he had visited. Rogozinski and Janikowski made a short trip to Gabon, returning 14 July to find German naval vessels had arrived in Cameroon waters and that, to their dismay, a German protectorate had been declared over the Cameroon river area and Bimbia. Rogozinski by then had fallen out with the German trader Schmidt (who orchestrated the German ‘annexation’) whom he had ‘touched’ for money, and so despite his background Rogozinski took up the cause of the English rather than that of the Germans, attempting to annexe parts of the Cameroon Mountain for the British Crown (see Ardener, S.G. 1958: 42–5 and notes p.60). Quickly he set about protecting his interests and, on the basis of his good relations with the people of Bota and other coastal peoples as far as Rio del Rey, offered his services to Commander Furlong of H.M.S. Forward and Commander Craigie of the Flirt. Indeed he did help ‘Her Majesty the Queen...’ to get signed treaties with the Chief of ‘Bota or Bobya’ and others. On 4 February the British Vice-Consul Harold Whyte, acting as consul for a while in the absence of Consul Hewett, gave Rogozinski the title Acting Chief Civil Commissioner over the colony of Victoria (now Limbe). The Germans were outraged and pursued this Polish-born Russian national of part German descent, even to the extent, on 12 February, of wounding and arresting Janikowski on the open sea in the belief that they had got hold of Rogozinski. At about this time the Swedes Knutson and Waldau were officially authorized by Captain Kärcher to arrest ‘S.S. Rogozinski and hand him over to the German Authorities’ (see Part III, 2 above). The English and Jamaican Baptist missionaries were as uncomfortable as were the Germans at the activities of the Poles, and vigorously protested Rogozinski’s title of Acting Commissioner. This was revoked on 25 March 1885 and the British Government eventually repudiated his agreements. Although Lewis described him as a very pleasant and jovial man, he was unpopular with them and other Victorians, partly because he and his partner Janikowski traded in liquor (hence, no doubt, his local nickname Rogue-Gin-and-Whisky), and partly because Rogozinski had a dispute with them over some land. Possibly this was land bought from

STEFAN SCZOLC-ROGOZINSKI

243

the Bota (Wovea) people on the Western boundary of the mission lands. Indeed uncertainty as to the exact boundary of the mission concession became a critical issue when their territory was bought by the Basel mission in January 1887, and the sum claimed was drastically reduced accordingly (see Ardener S.G. 1968). Although Rogozinski and the German reporter Zöller were competitors in the annexation business, one on behalf of the British and the other on behalf of Germany, with Janikowski they together climbed to the peak of the Cameroon Mountain in December 1884, which they supposed was only the third European expedition to the top (after Burton in 1860 and Comber in 1878). Returning to Krakow, in 1887 Rogozinski donated his ethnographic and linguistic notes as well as his ethnological collections to the Polish Academy of Science at the University.2 He took part in the intellectual life of Krakow, giving several talks about his experiences. He married the Polish novelist Hélène Jeanne Bogucka and in 1890 attempted to start a plantation on Fernando Po, but abandoned the idea the following year. He died suddenly on a trip to Paris on 1 December 1996 (DKB 1.1. 87) at the comparatively young age of 35. Like Knutson, his aspirations for establishing settlements for their countrymen on the Cameroon Mountain came to nothing.

Notes 1. For further material on Rogozinski see Betley 1969–71. Kubica and Ardener have a study in preparation. 2. I was kindly given permission to see these artefacts by the Director and staff of the Ethnographic Museum where they are now kept, in September 1998 and 2000; more information will be available in Kubica and Ardener, in preparation.

CHAPTER 6

Hugo Zöller, Journalist Translations by Rosemary Frances, Ena Pederson, Fiona Moore and Marion Berghahn

Hugo Z ller was born on 12 January 1852 (DKL 1920). He became a journalist on the Kölnische Zeitung newspaper, and arrived in Cameroon in 1884, from where he sent many articles to his newspaper. He later admitted that these had been vetted by Nachtigal before despatch, and the violence toned down to give a better impression than reality to the German public. He was only in Cameroon about three months (see Knutson s memoir), and he quickly published Der Deutsche Kolonie Kamerun in 1885, to which Knutson refers kindly in his memoir. His text is important for comparison with Knutson s version of events in which they were both involved. As a journalist Z ller has a more vivid, even emotional, writing style, and a more ironical eye than Knutson. After all, he could afford to smile as he had succeeded in his aims, to Knutson s disadvantage. Many more years of travel and journalism later, and by now Professor Dr. Z ller, in 1930 he published Als Journalist und Forscher in Deutschlands Grosser Kolonialzeit. A few comments and facts taken from this wide-ranging work have also been drawn on here. Z ller met Rogozinski (see Part IV, 5), who already knew the coast, on the boat on his way to Cameroon. He remembered that, given African circumstances, [he] presented an elegant exterior , with a smooth, upper-class Polish casualness; he was popular with the ladies. Z ller shared the physical discomforts and hardships of a climb up the Mountain with Rogozinski (who had, like him, studied in a German gymnasium) and with Janikowski, and recognized that both were tough and physically fit like himself, but that while he glowed with German patriotism, Rogozinski was in fact anti-German and was working for the English. Nevertheless, years later, Z ller shed a tear when he saw Rogozinski s obituary. For it was not so much Rogozinski himself, that Z ller detested, as the English gentlemen of Victoria with some of whom Rogozinski consorted, and the English Baptists, all of whom stood in the way

246

HUGO ZÖLLER

of German political aims. In fact, the English missionaries at Victoria, and their friends, did not much like Rogozinski either (see Part IV, 5). Z ller in his later recollections makes his former attitude to the English clear: I might as well state that if the English did not succeed in the race for Mount Cameroon, the heart of the colony, this was due to a great extent to my intervention, in agreement with the Reichskommissar [Nachtigal], in the cause of which I recklessly engaged without regard to health or personal safety. He notes that his patriotism was such that it took precedence over his own interests, and explains his omission to take opportunities to acquire land for himself. The following passages are selections from Z ller s first book, written soon after the events, when the political implications of what he was writing would have been clear. The selections made are those most related to Knutson s account of events, and are limited, because of space. It is necessary to include Z ller s account of his late-night meeting with the Swedes in Mapanja, with his plans for annexation already worked out, and with the German military presence to back him up, to understand how the Swedes were pressured into becoming German allies.1 After considering the alternatives, they unstintingly and trustfully, on the basis of a handshake and word of honour (Z ller), put their energies, considerable expertise, and (especially) their valuable personal contacts at the disposal of the Germans. Knutson s bitterness at the treatment the Swedes later received is therefore understandable.

* * * * * Der Deutsche Kolonial Kamerun 1885 (Excerpts) Chapter IX The idea to acquire part of the Cameroon Mountain was admittedly my own and I had – not without a certain measure of success – done everything to awaken the interest of my fellow country men. However, now that it was time for the implementation of the plan and real deeds, one of the major factors was admittedly missing. This was the very person on whom I had counted entirely and with great trust, without whom the mission could not be undertaken even if the decision had been left to me alone. If I were to beat Rogozinski, who had lived in the country for many more years (than I), and the Victorians [meaning people from Victoria], who had been born in the country and who knew the language and the customs of the mountain people, then I first and foremost needed a companion who was familiar with the habits and customs of the natives. …[This] left me in a dilemma so bad that my heart was seized with a cramp. During the night in Victoria I had been seized by the worry that the Swedish elephant hunters in Mapanja might not trust the stranger, that they might think that I was an adventurer. The first light of morning had not yet appeared when I went to the bed of Mr Stehr [Woermann’s agent in Bimbia] and asked him if he would accompany me to Mapanja. His only task was to say who and what I am, to establish my identity so to speak, so that the Swedish gentlemen will not receive me with suspicion. …

DER DEUTSCHE KOLONIAL KAMERUN 1885

247

[They set out and began to climb up the mountain path.] Until now we had encountered only few people on our march. Now, however, the street became more lively. It was, you see, market day in Victoria and from the areas around Bongala and Bonjongo, which, even though they are not yet properly annexed, do have a very friendly relationship with Victoria, many people and especially women tend to come down to the coast. Of all these women only one interested me, whose praise I had heard sung for weeks and for whom I had Silva [an Angolan] look out for. No less than four white people from three white nations had told me confidentially that they were madly in love with Mundjua, the beautiful girl from Bonjongo, whom they had got to know down in Victoria. … After marching another three quarters of an hour we climbed over the 8–10 feet high fence of Bonjongo villlage which is 510 metres above sea level and where a branch of the Baptist mission in Victoria has been established by a Blackman. We had been on our way for six or – if we leave out the breaks – for four hours when we reach the first huts of Mapanja. But Mapanja is almost more spread out than the other small towns and the Swedes live right at the top on the highest point of the village. In a group of small houses, in no way different from those of the Negroes, the blue-yellow Swedish flag flies from a high mast. In front of the biggest of these huts, which appears to serve as living quarters, the furs of animals that can be hunted, such as ‘bush cats’, antelopes and so on are stretched out to dry. In the doorway stands a red-cheeked young man in a trapper hat, woollen shirt and natural-coloured boots, who is busy cleaning an enormous elephant rifle. Mr Stehr tells me that this is Gustavson [Gustafsson], the companion of one of the two Swedish gentlemen. The companion of the other one [Ohlsson] had died recently from a fever or perhaps from the after-effect of sunstroke. We discovered that Messrs Knutson and Waldau had left for a hunting trip which was to last several days in Mongo ma Etinde, but that they were expected back either today or next day, and we were invited by Herr Gustavson into the house. [Zöller’s description of the house and contents has been placed above, in the Introduction.] After I had seen to the needs of my Blacks in the most generous fashion, Herr Gustavson, Herr Stehr and my humble self were sitting having palm oil soup and a few conserved foods which was our lunch when the natives announced that Messrs Knutson and Waldau were coming back from their hunting trip. Both gentlemen were bathed in sweat and absolutely exhausted, so that as soon as the necessary introductions were over I thought it best to leave them to their own devices until we met again in the evening. … The evening brought a pleasant coolness, and although I had brought a lot of wine with me the Swedes absolutely insisted on having Swedish punch, although I am quite sure they didn’t have much of it left. After a suitable pause I started on the subject of the first parallels. Hour after hour passed while I revealed to them my plans and the Swedes, every so often, went into the room next door in order to have some private conversation. The candles had burnt very low and had been put out and the small clock on the wall had long struck midnight when we got up and, just to have another breath of fresh air, went out under the starry sky. The agreement, which promised great benefits to both parties, had been drawn up and had

248

HUGO ZÖLLER

been sealed with a handshake and word of honour. This seemed to me to be a great first victory. The Swedes had already bought some uncultivated bush complex from Mapanja and Lecumbi, though unfortunately they had no territorial rights over them, as well as the small marketplace in Lecumbi, and hadn’t apparently experienced much difficulty in doing that. People from Victoria were feared and also hated and the Bakweri were anxious to grasp every opportunity to avoid the danger of falling under the jurisdiction of the black scoundrels in Victoria. I wondered whether it would be granted me to make this whole magnificent mountain area, 5–600 square kilometres of the healthiest, richest and most fertile soil in Africa, German? Already I saw myself in my dreams bringing a kingdom to the fatherland. Unfortunately dreams are always more beautiful than reality. Since the Swedes assured me that I would not be able to draw up any agreement without providing rich gifts and that none of the kings and the chiefs would go to the coast to accept the gifts, partly out of fear, partly because of an old extensive superstition that if they saw the sea they might well lose their lives. So I asked Herr Stehr to collect, on his return journey, a few thousand marks’ worth of wares from the supply in his factory. Herr Stehr expressed the absolute conviction that as soon as the people in Victoria suspected for whom the gifts were intended the transportation of the goods would be prevented by force. We therefore decided that Herr Gustavson, with a larger contingent of Mapanja people should go to Bota, a place that has been bought by Rogozinski, and at the same time exchange the goods as payment for rubber, which had already been delivered… The gentlemen Knut Knutson and Georg Waldau, of whom the former was 27 [ Zöller being 31] and the latter 22 years old, both sons of good families, had both come out here – each with his own servant – to shoot elephants and other wild animals and to send collections home. At Mann’s Spring, i.e. above the border of the jungle, they had built the houses which I have already described elsewhere, but had been driven away from there because of the harsh weather conditions. They also discovered that the mountain was not so rich in wild animals as they had initially expected. While the elephants occur in large numbers in the Bakundu region (at the top of the Mungo River) they can only be found in limited numbers here. In addition to this, to begin with the Swedes did not have any elephant rifles with explosive and expansive bullets. Of the few elephants they did shoot, most escaped in a seriously wounded condition and only in one case, as far as I know, did the ivory get into the hands of the rightful owner. It would be a mistake to think that a major fraction of the ivory brought into the trade by Negroes comes from elephants that have been shot or killed in some violent way. In the interior parts of the country there may be more courageous tribes who, as has been described several times by travellers in other parts, isolate the elephants and starve them to the point where they are so weak and despondent that they can be killed without any danger, but the majority of the ivory which is being sold – as is commonly assumed and also confirmed by Negro statements – is simply found... Mostly the Swedes shot big-horned antelopes… The Swedes also owned several furs of very different and exceptionally big, almost tiger-like, kinds of cats [civet?]... When the Swedes had come to the conclusion that the outcome of hunting would never meet their expectations they began to teach the natives to collect and prepare

DER DEUTSCHE KOLONIAL KAMERUN 1885

249

‘kautschuk’ [rubber] and moved to Mapanja, an area which is particularly full of lianes rich in ‘kautschuk’. That there was rubber in the Cameroon Mountains had not been known previously, and the Swedes must certainly be given credit for this discovery. Unfortunately the Swedes are powerless in the face of the method of exploitation by the natives who, by using the lianas, destroy the trees themselves. Even though the ‘kautschuk’ business, which has recently been started by the Swedes, is quite profitable, the extremely high cost of carrier wages tips the scales. The millionaires [missionaries?] who had been provided with sufficient means from England and lead a life of leisure without contributing anything have ruined prices. And once the prices have been raised to a certain level, then the inherent passive resistance of the Negroes becomes an insurmountable obstacle to a lowering of the prices. … Apart from such small quarrels – unavoidable in trade – the Swedes, who also already speak a bit of Bakweri, have managed to get on well with the natives which may also partly be ascribed to the fact that they are greatly feared as excellent riflemen. The Swedes, who are not as easily provided with European tinned goods as the tradesmen living on the coast, get their somewhat frugal food (coco[yams], palm oil, chickens) from the natives; the coffee which I sip with great pleasure several times a day, grew wild in the Cameroon mountains. About the climate my hosts spoke in praising tones but not as positively as I had expected.

* * * * * The worst side to Mapanja is the total lack, not only of drinking water, but of water altogether. Every drop of water for drinking, cooking and washing must be carried back from Bongala, i.e. 11/2 hours away, on the natives’ heads or rather on the women’s heads… The houses of Mapanja, which counts around 400 inhabitants of whom 60–80 carry weapons and flint-lock muskets, are square, have flat roofs of rush2 and flattened clay floors, and are made from the raphia palm,3 which is wrongly called bamboo in West Africa. … The agriculture of the Mapanja people is, like that of all other Bakweri, limited to coco[yam] (the principle food, that which is called taro in the Pacific Ocean region), to cassava, to the ungrafted sort of banana, also called ‘Plantanen’ [plantain], and to oil palms, which, however, do not carry fruit at this height and which are only cultivated because of their liquid – the palm wine. The strangest thing I saw at such height was the existence of wild, yet very healthy sugar canes. ...

* * * * * I took a great deal of trouble to discover as much as I could about the religious ideas of the Bakweri. The English missionaries know almost nothing about it, perhaps because they regard any occupation with such profane things as being beneath their dignity or perhaps they are so busy in other ways that they have no time left over to deal with them… The only cult places which I saw in the mountainous areas were some bushes surrounded by a small fence and there the faithful laid out their sacrifices, palm nuts, palm oil in small shallow dishes, and so on. … [T]he formerly very populous Island of Ambas was turned into a depopulated wasteland through … witchcraft palaver. Some months before my arrival it

250

HUGO ZÖLLER

appeared that a similar thing was happening in Mapanja. A terrible panic had seized the people and everyone was blaming every other for a terrible spell. Then the Swedes called all inhabitants to a great gathering of the people and (I quote their own naïve words) formulated a law that every medicine man who dared to show his face in Mapanja should without delay be shot down. I found myself laughing out loudly over this rather strange way of formulating a law, but the Swedes assured me that it had been a radical cure. In Mapanja now there is no medicine man, or at least no shrewd medicine man, and the one who is said to have caused all the harm now lives in a neighbouring village and just comes occasionally. There is one thing I feel I have to say about the completely negative activities of the English mission. There are now no more mission stations there, but the English missionary Thomson [see IV,4 above] spent no fewer than four years living and working in Mapanja, and what was the result? Today there is no Christian in Mapanja and only two young people who with great difficulty can sign their names on paper and their signatures look a little like cockerels’ claws that have been dipped in ink and dragged across the page. The whole of the sixth and the half of the seventh January we spent in negotiations with the old, and no longer very brave, King Mossaso. And with his rather more intelligent chief Mosinge and the most revered people from the Mapanja nation. At midday on the sixth we were told that two people from Victoria, by the name of Wilson and Johnson, had arrived in the neighbouring village of Lecumbi and were trying to persuade the inhabitants there to break their contract with the Swedes. We were told that they had among other things, though they knew perfectly well that it wasn’t true, told the people that in [the] Cameroon [estuary=Douala] forty Germans had been killed in a fight with the Joss people. Although I very vigorously suggested that we should leave for Lecumbi, the Swedes considered this not to be feasible, on the one hand because they couldn’t leave their property before Gustavson returned, and on the other hand because if we arrived in Lecumbi without any goods we wouldn’t be able to achieve anything. I spent the night from the 6th to the 7th drafting contracts and I thought it was important that we should put in a more binding form the contract with Mapanja because of its geographical position as a border town and that the other contracts were not so important. I had seen an awful lot of contracts in my life before but I knew that I had to leave shortly and the one that I most urgently wanted to conclude was the one with the Germans. If only I had had some merchants and some other native Germans to give me some advice, or at least a nod and a wink, but there weren’t any and so my troubles, wondering whether I was doing the right thing, were not slight. At midday on the 7th brave Gustavson arrived absolutely wet with sweat and with a column of bearers who were incredibly heavily laden and he told us that posters had been placed in Bota which exclusively forbad the transit of any goods that were intended for me and that he had managed to get his way through only with a great deal of guile and determination. I had hardly taken possession of the goods when two black gentlemen arrived dressed in jacket, trousers, boots and hat.4 We exchanged brief greetings and they then strode into the Swedes’ house. I already suspected what their wishes might be, but I was confident of my own case, as I drew the document out of my pocket and showed it to them. I watched while smok-

DER DEUTSCHE KOLONIAL KAMERUN 1885

251

ing a cigar and hoping to give the impression that I was concerned only with my own goods, when that proud man, Knutson, raised his head and I heard the words ‘Please inform the Court at Victoria that we indignantly refute these claims’. I then, as Herr Knutson called me several times, stepped into the house and laughing I read the scrap of paper which was in absolutely appalling English and sounded in [German] translation something like this: Since the appearance of a German armada in Cameroon has caused unrest, and since in the interest of public order the arrival of a German in the Mountains must be regarded with great mistrust, we the undersigned pledge not to help the Germans in any way, especially not in an attempt to buy land and to increase territorial rights.

I glowed with desire to write down the words of this wonderful document, which I now draw only from my memory, but, in just the same way as in Africa many European-formulated contracts are ignored, one has to say that the natural way in which the Blacks formulate their documents are regarded as insignificant in Europe; in Africa, however, they will not with impunity be ignored. Common sense told me not to spend too much time on the scrap of paper. If I did the Blacks might think that I was attaching more importance to it than I did. Already there was a gathering of men in the room and it had to be very important to me, a thousand times more than what might later emerge. I considered it to be rather important, before this mass of people, to give the black carriers of civilization a rather salutary fright. Stepping through the doorway I drew a small pipe from my pocket and blew a sharp note, whereupon, the captain in advance, all my people rushed in. The black-coated Victoria men leapt from their seats, reached for their top hats and tried to escape which, of course, as I was standing in the doorway, couldn’t happen and before they managed to find another exit I commanded Peter, ‘Please bring a bottle of brandy for the black gentlemen’. I then asked them if there was anything else they needed, or if perhaps they weren’t feeling well. The Mapanja people who were waiting outside laughed enormously at the scene, but this didn’t prevent the Victoria people, when they were leaving, from accosting the weak, old, and rather cowardly King Mossaso, who was climbing up the hill, to say a few daft things to him. As I later discovered, they had (and after this there will be more description) told him that if the German flag was hoisted everybody would immediately fall dead. When the two evil ravens were out of sight and it could be seen that about 100 people, among whom were the king, the chief, and all the common people, had come to a gathering. I left the distinguished seats for them, for instance the full and the empty boxes, and the king enjoyed himself and with alacrity ate my ruses. And then we had an English speech from Herr Valdau followed by a speech by the interpreter in Bakweri, [then I spoke] and the next morning I wrote in my diary a note, which is as follows: King Mossasso, Chief Mosinge and the rest of the men from Mapanja, you have often heard about those white merchants in Bimbia in Cameroon and also Victoria, from whom even if through the black intermediaries, you have received, for many years, your clothes, your rum, your rifles, your gunpowder, your iron, and so on. You trust these Whitemen who, as you know, call themselves Germans. And as you have heard also that I am also German you must believe that my white brothers and I are here to allow you and your land to enter under the guardianship of the Emperor of Germany. Our Emperor,

HUGO ZÖLLER

252

who has a thousand times more warriors than you have ever seen ordinary people place in the field, has appointed one of his officials, Consul General Dr Nachtigal, to look after everything that he himself, if he were here, would decree. And this official has allowed me to inform you that there will be a contract drawn up to which he will later put his own name. You know this already, but I repeat it so that nobody can later say that you signed something that you didn’t really understand. And for that reason I will now describe to you very clearly what the result of this contract will be. It will be read out to you and it will be translated to you. As soon as you have placed your signature to this contract you must regard the Emperor of Germany as your highest sovereign and that in this country your own rulers will be less powerful. But, so that you don’t misunderstand me, I will add that the richest king of this mountain has the same relationship to the Emperor of Germany as a small fly has to the mighty eagle. In return for your allegiance, and to compensate you for that, we undertake that no other white people, and no black people acting on behalf of the Whites, will be able to demand your land from you or to demand that you appear before their courts.

At this point there was a lively, heartfelt, murmur of applause. In addition the German Emperor will not protect those who commit a crime but only those who keep themselves free from acts of evil, but if anyone of you should commit a criminal offence you will be able, either to punish him yourselves, or he will be summoned before the court in Cameroon, or should the crime have been committed in another country be able to assure yourselves that the punishment is just. You will therefore see that the main effect of this contract is principally that when you are under German protection you will no longer be under the protection of other Whitemen in whom you have little confidence. If perhaps in the future the German Emperor should extend, and perhaps slightly change, the powers which you are now asking him to assume, you will then receive as compensation for your loss of your own independent powers a German undertaking that trade will be increased, that roads will be opened to Bimbia, that houses will be built for you and that in every way there will be an opportunity for you to earn more money, even if perhaps this will mean you will have to work rather harder than you are at the moment accustomed to.

At this point there was loud and very happy applause. … I did not want to use English, although the double translation took up a lot of time, but I didn’t want to use English for political reasons. I was already angry enough that, in order to prevent any suspicions among the natives, the contract had been drawn up in English. Even as it was, the questions and the explanatory answers took up hour after hour so that when we at last reached the point of exchanging signatures, darkness had already fallen. But the contract gained thereby a certain solemnity because a great many lights had been lit in the house, so that the whole thing began to look like our Christmas Eve. But how difficult it was to persuade the nobles of this country to grasp such a strange and perhaps magical thing as a pen, or perhaps even to mark their cross on the paper. And then came the time-consuming signature of the interpreter and the witnesses, who were also black. No expressions seemed to indicate an absolute bursting of inner satisfaction while they elaborated on their signatures, as if with every new letter they became bemused by the admiration of their own work, and they didn’t notice that they had interfered with the equally curliqued signatures of the people who had signed before them. Later I gained more experience in such matters and discovered, for instance, that a king who was afraid of magic spells would much prefer to take the pen from the hand of a black interpreter than from

DER DEUTSCHE KOLONIAL KAMERUN 1885

253

my hand. But on the first few occasions I really had to exercise a great deal of selfcontrol not to lose my patience over what seemed to me a frightful lot of tarrying. Nonetheless, there was a great deal of progress to be observed in the behaviour of the Bakweri compared with how they behaved earlier. According to their common character traits most Negroes who have, not at all or only seldom, come into contact with the Whites are extremely suspicious of everything that has to do with paper, books, pens and writing in general, even bearing in mind they haven’t heard of such things before. Most primitive Negroes regard a piece of paper with writing on it as the very worse form of witchcraft. Buchholtz found Bakweri like that, although at that point he hadn’t even penetrated to the really high mountains, to the Buea people and so forth, for whenever he wrote something, the people asked him to stop, and when he threw away torn up papers they begged him not to do that again. The same sort of thing didn’t happen to me. The only difficulty, which the old belief in witchcraft presented, was that the people in certain places, and in others not at all, very reluctantly took a pen in their hands. I am not prepared to give the size of the area of land in Mapanja which on 7 January was placed under German protectorate; but I would like to mention that I can remember that, as far as I was able to ascertain, Mann’s Spring belonged to it, and the holy mountain and as far as Blacks had actually penetrated, the common possession of the four villages Mapanja, Bwassa, Mimbia5 and Buea. …

Chapter X My Kru people and I would still have been about one kilometre away from Lecumbi when a messenger sent out by Knutson approached me and breathlessly stuttered the report that Rogozinski was in Lecumbi with a group of armed Victorians and that it had already come to blows. I sent the messenger on to Mr Waldau, ordered that the rifles be charged, and drove my Kru people, the most trustworthy part of our crew, onwards as fast as possible. When I gave the signal on my pocket whistle, the luggage was to be put down and the rifles to be taken in hand. As we hurried forwards marching like geese in a long line (anything else is impossible in this country) out of the forest into the open farming land and came to the first huts, I saw a strange and even for me, who after all has been travelling in Africa for quite some time, rather unusual sight: at the other end of the plateau, which was full of little huts, and to which I was just about to descend, I saw a crowded group of screaming Negroes swinging their rifles and swords in the air and, among them, carrying his shotgun, my friend Knutson; but on another hill, separated from this plateau by a deep gorge, there were other huts and other people who were just as excited. Already with the naked eye I saw how they were running to and fro with guns, taking their positions behind the trees or crouching behind the groups of rolledtogether rocks. As I then quickly used the opera glasses [binoculars], I recognized Rogozinski directing his people here and there, and I was no longer in doubt that a battle was being prepared on both sides. I hardly have to mention that I sent my people ahead and hurried down the hill as fast as my legs could carry me because, however clever my dear companion Knutson may be, I did fear his extremely distinct soldier’s nature. Indeed, I remain convinced to this day that, had I arrived five

254

HUGO ZÖLLER

or ten minutes later, there would have been dead and wounded. I will, however, not deny that the case also had an extremely funny side to it. I had not yet reached Mr. Knutson when around fifty wildly gesticulating Negroes encircled me and loudly asked if they were to attack the hill on the other side. Further down I then learned from Knutson that Rogozinski, at the very moment when he (Knutson) appeared on this hill, on which the market place serving Lecumbi and the surrounding villages is situated, had hoisted the Union Jack. This Union Jack is a flag that only the Governor of the English colonies is allowed to use and that Rogozinski, most certainly, did not have the right to hoist. Mr Knutson and Waldau, who had arrived in the meantime, were on fire with fighting spirit, and the natives explained over and over again that the flag had been hoisted by means of violence despite their heated resistance and that it would be taken down again if I promised them protection from the Victorians and the English. My situation was by no means pleasant. However annoyed I was with Rogozinski’s behaviour and however convinced I was that I, in my capacity as an angel of peace, would lose the natives’ respect, I was convinced that I did not have the right to participate in the action against this, even as a passive collaborator, although this was admittedly an illegally hoisted English flag. After all, the noble man (Dr. Nachtigal), characterized by the finest spirit and character, always leaning towards reconciliation and mildness, from whom alone I got my task and my right to sign contracts (set out in a written document), had insisted that my conquests must be of a peaceful nature. On the other hand, I could not deny that Lecumbi, if it were to be owned by the English, broke off the connection between Mapanja and the areas which I also intended to acquire, and that my position in relation to Rogozinski and the Victorians would probably never again be quite as good. If it came to shooting, the result would be quite clear, as we – three white people and around 100 Blacks – faced one Whiteman and 30–40 Blacks (who, however, were better armed than our men), but it was to be expected that Rogozinski’s troops would get daily reinforcement and perhaps even be superior to mine in a short time. I would not have objected to an attack or a violent approach from Rogozinski but the Pole wisely avoided doing that. The result of my contemplations was the explanation I gave the natives of Lecumbi: that I would have nothing to do with a violent attempt to remove the English flag because Germany and England were on friendly terms, that I would neither sanction nor prevent such action, that I, however, would encourage the king, the chief, and the other noblemen to sign a protest, which I intended to draft, against the illegal hoisting of the English flag. Secondly, I thoroughly emphasized the order for our people not to shoot unless the first shot came from the other side. In the meantime, Peter and Freeman had piled up some suitcases in the open air, which now functioned as an improvised table, and they spread out my writing utensils on it. But as I was still busy drafting the protest, Mr Knutson informed me that the general mood of the Lecumbi people, who had been worked on by the Victorians’ envoys, was changing and not exactly changing to our advantage. The view had been aired that Germany, if it really was so powerful as it had been claimed, would be able to protect them from the Victorians and condone the pulling down of the

DER DEUTSCHE KOLONIAL KAMERUN 1885

255

flag; if, however, the Germans were not powerful enough to do this, then it would be dangerous to have too much to do with them. In addition, Rogozinski, who would have estimated correctly the favourable effect of our peaceful reticence which the natives did not quite understand, sent over a person in a hussar uniform with a poster containing the information that the Court of Equity of Victoria had had the English flag hoisted in this place in the interest of Queen Victoria and according to the will of the people of Lecumbi. The claim that the hoisting of the flag had been the will of the people of Lecumbi was, as will have become evident from my outline of the events above, clearly a lie. After I had turned around again and devoted myself to the drafting of the protest, although the poster had been torn up and dropped at the feet of the man who had brought it, things such as the delivery of a document by a uniformed person seldom fails to impress the very impressionable Blacks. I therefore considered it correct to have King Yunge and the other noblemen step forward and explain to them in brief words that such powerful nations as Germany and England would not wage war because of a hundred Cameroon mountains and certainly not because of a miserable hole such as Lecumbi, that they should sign the protest I had drafted and that the case then would be dealt with justly in Berlin in due time. Those people to whom I have just referred as the nobles because of their richness in clothes and weapons, pressured, during great applause, the old King Yunge – one of the most cowardly people that I have ever met – to sign. The old man did indeed approach the improvised table, although he was shaking and shouting ‘witchcraft’, ‘witchcraft’. Having arrived there he asked if he could not state his protest orally because he was afraid of the pen. Stupid as I was, I refused. I was just reaching for the pen when the king turned around, quick as lightning, and indeed in a manner extraordinarily fast for his age. In a few steps he had left the circle of spectators and could no longer be seen. In a cloud Venus has removed him from the people.

We were all laughing. Oh, King Yunge, Yunge, what a hero you are! Indeed, I have never in my life seen anyone flee so quickly. While some of the noble warriors ran off to bring the king back, the others were jostling in order to sign on the edifice functioning as a table. But as soon as it came to taking the pen in hand, I did have great trouble with the few, who signed at all. The rest earnestly and decidedly refused to sign and I therefore considered all other attempts to get them to do it useless and gave up. Orally, they would profess their protest against the hoisting of the English flag to the whole world, they said, but they were reluctant to sign a document because the Victoria people assured them that it was Messrs Knutson and Waldau’s intention to trade in Lecumbi and to take away the trade from them (the Lecumbi people) which was even now taking place on their marketplace. The Swedes, who had shortly before bought the unused bush land around Lecumbi [see material on land acquisitions above] and wanted to extend their rubber business to Lecumbi, tried in vain to dispute this stupid view. The goods with which they had acquired the land were fetched and they tried, unsuccessfully, to reverse the deal.

256

HUGO ZÖLLER

By now it had become noon and although the Swedes would have liked to remain in Lecumbi to further their own interests, I persisted in moving on. The reason was that whether or not we were going to be luckier in Buassa [Bwassa], in Mimbia and Buea primarily depended on getting there before Rogozinski and the Victorians. While we, over the strong objections of the heavily laden carriers, proceed onward, the Pole, as an ally of the Blacks of Victoria, had been able to hurry ahead, unstressed and unhindered, without signing contracts, to hoist a flag against the will of the population who offered no resistance and whom he and the Blacks accompanying him had no right whatsoever to lead. But if it was up to me, this game was not going to be repeated a second time in Buassa, in Mimbia and Buea. I therefore refused them the break they requested, parted with the Lecumbi people after a last few exhortations, gave the order to pick up the luggage again and had our convoy proceed down the road to Buassa, which took us very close to Rogozinski’s previous position, in such a chaotic way that an attack could not easily have been repelled. … In several of the Bakweri people’s villages I have made the observation that when there is both a king and a chief, the latter is always more intelligent than the former. On further investigation I came to believe that such chiefs, whose position, at least initially, does not seem to be hereditary, only exist where the king happens to be a mentally deficient man or lacking in energy….

* * * * * [Having been to Mimbea, we arrived in Buea.] After we had been given a hut by the wives of the second king, who was no longer present, and the noise of the drums had announced our arrival far and wide, King Letongo soon appeared with an enormous cavalry sword under his arm and accompanied by a large train of attendants. He was an albino or a ‘Kakerlak’, yet not with the kind of pink skin colour common to the albinos of the Negro race, but instead just as yellow as a Japanese or a Chinese. (Dr Nachtigal, to whom I later related this freak of nature, expressed the opinion that such light skin colour would be a particular manifestation of the leprosy which was widespread in Africa. Another manifestation could be versch wärun [the meaning is unclear]. After we had shaken hands and exchanged the usual polite phrases while sitting down in a half-circle on rocks, suitcases and boxes, gifts were brought in – in the form of a piglet for our people, and chickens and several bottles of palm wine for us. With money, however, we only managed to obtain some cocoyams and some bundles of plantain. Mbua, who at first remained well out of sight, shyly ventured to join us during the conversation, which was translated by Molla Musinje,6 and did not at all seem unhappy to be seen by Letongo. From all that we saw and heard we got the well-founded impression that if something was to be achieved at all, we were by no means to proceed in too much of a hurry. For Letongo seemed to be just as proud as he was sly and would have been offended by too quick an action. To Negro kings, for whom a long visit by Whitemen is doubly advantageous – namely because of the respect they get from their people on such occasions and because of the inevitable gifts – it is not considered good manners to blurt out one’s intentions. Such African civilities can

DER DEUTSCHE KOLONIAL KAMERUN 1885

257

much more easily be disregarded with minor kings such as Yunge and also Muimba than by particularly proud ones like Letongo. We therefore made the undoubtedly correct decision first to win the people’s affection and leave everything else to the meeting, which we hoped to arrange with the kings and the chiefs the following morning. Letongo on his part, however, showed great delight – partly natural, partly an artificial attempt to show dignity – when we spoke of our plans to have some party games, and hardly ever have I heard the call and announcement drums of the Kru country sound so joyful as on this occasion. Had we known then, that only twelve hours later our lives would be quite in danger, then we Whites at least would have proceeded somewhat less enthusiastically. But I do not want to anticipate the order of events. Among the Kru people there were some such as Peter, Freeman, and also the weak-looking Mbua, of whose strength and skill, however, I had already seen samples, whom I was inclined to count among the strongest men in the world. Since Messrs Knutson and Waldau also intended to demonstrate their excellent accuracy, I longed with obvious joy for the moment when the Buea people, whom I especially wanted to impress, would cheer, be amazed and full of admiration. Even if I was wrong to some extent in this regard, I can excuse myself by pointing out that I neither knew the deceitful and basically cowardly character of this people nor could have known it from my few previous experiences. In this regard I had to rely entirely on my two companions who had lived for a long time in Bakweri country. After the prizes for the winner, made of cotton and other cheap silk materials, had been put on public display, an oblong oval area was marked out by lines on the ground which the, by now almost one hundred, onlookers were not allowed to step over. Mr Waldau declared himself willing to act as judge. My Kru people, who proudly showed off the Herculean muscles of their enormous arms, had put on brand new hip scarves in honour of the occasion; confident of victory they stood there as if the result of the wrestling match was quite certain. The little Molla Musinje behaved himself like a madman for joy, pulled at one and then the other side of my coat, and stood on his head right in front of me to the great joy of the Buea people. When on my command Mbua, stepping into the middle of the oval arena, challenged native boys to a wrestling game, two big louts, pushed forward by a group of grown-up men, whose well-trained limbs resembled the wrestling families of our circuses, appeared. While I was admiring their skill and deftness, I understood through Mbua’s translation that such games, which were here called ‘fla-fla’, were an everyday occurrence among the Bakweri including the Buea. When I handed the winner the silk handkerchief offered as a prize, the cheering of the crowds (I guess there were about 400 people) would take no end. Wrestling games between grown-up Buea men followed from which a thin chap with the manners of a circus clown emerged as the winner. When I thought that the moment had arrived to show off the strength of my own people, I asked Peter to be ready. The Bakweri took long to decide who should face this Hercules [= strong man]. Finally, their choice fell on the same clown that we had already seen fight earlier. The contrast between these two figures, which were now facing each other in the arena, could not possibly have been greater. On

258

HUGO ZÖLLER

one side one must imagine the Farnesi Hercules, just with another head, namely one with a face smiling so kindly and radiating such good-natured certainty of victory as can be explained at such a moment only by the utmost bodily strength and health. On the other side there was a less than beautiful figure with thin legs, a relatively narrow chest, a sickly complexion and unpleasant boasting manners. The two wrestlers greeted each other more chivalrously than I would have expected from Negroes, and then attacked each other, embracing the shoulders of the opponent with their arms and waiting in this position to see who could first make the other one lose his balance. I noticed, not without a certain amount of satisfaction, that the Buea man was increasingly losing his balance and soon dangled one and then the other foot in the air. But suddenly he tore himself away, beat his chest in a challenging manner and attacked Peter again, but this time with his arms stretched out and in a stooping position. The Kru, standing upright with an uncertain look in his eyes as if this manoeuvre was unknown to him, expected his opponent’s attack. Again the arms of the clown were embracing his hips and I feared the worst. But Peter tore his hands loose and tossed, while still holding on to his hands, the Bakweri so far away from himself that the latter turned several times on his own axis and almost fell to the ground. In spite of this, it was already now obvious that Peter, although the stronger, was far inferior to the Bakweri with regard to wrestling skills. The clown repeated his attack in the way he had done before while Peter calmly remained standing. Peter pressed his rough fists against the head and shoulders of his opponent but in vain. He was unable to move him and Knutson whispered in my ear that he was done for. Two seconds later, he was lying on the ground and loud shouts of joy arouse from the Bakweri in which I would have joined in myself had I been a Bakweri. In order not to show my discontent, I gave orders – to the great satisfaction of the people – to double the clown’s prize…. Having given in to Mbua’s wishes, we had stopped at the second king’s place, who was still not to be seen, but according to Negro concepts, Letongo, who called himself ‘High King’, would have considered it an insult if we had not let him share at least part of the honour of our visit. Thus Mr Waldau decided to go with Letongo all on his own – a deed which under the above mentioned circumstances and with the prevailing atmosphere can hardly be described as anything else but a selfless sacrifice – and to leave Knutson, me and our men behind in the empty huts. I did not at all like this separation and the events of the following night have shown that I was right. Knutson and I stayed in a hut of our own, while our Blacks had been given the middle room of a wide building about 30–40 feet away. As we were eating dinner and had rid ourselves of the most importunate onlookers, two of Letongo’s brothers appeared as messengers to ask us with roguish smiles if we wished to see any of the king’s wives or daughters. That the hospitality of the Negroes and some of the other so-called primitive peoples is extended to the most intimate circles of family life is well known, and I had already received subtle hints about this strange and incredible habit elsewhere in the interior of the Togo and Cameroon area. But I had never before been introduced to this custom in such an extreme fashion as in Buea. (Some weeks later when visiting the King Etoka of Wuri with two German

DER DEUTSCHE KOLONIAL KAMERUN 1885

259

officers, we experienced something similar.) The whole thing was unpleasant to us because we had to be most careful in order not to hurt the extremely pronounced self-esteem of the king with whom we intended to make a contract the next day. Mr Knutson uttered a lot of incoherent nonsense because he could think of nothing better to do, from which, given that the messengers had actually understood it, one could decipher something in the way of us being Catholic priests and the great fetish of the Whiteman having placed us under a variety of oaths. The two messengers laughed, chatted and in fact made us give away the last two bottles of beer. If we had had any suspicion with regard to Letongo’s sincerity, this mistrust would certainly have disappeared in the face of the harmless chatter of his two messengers. Suddenly, however, a wild-looking man with a false beard appeared at the entrance to the hut – I will speak of this strange fashion again later – shouting some words into the hut. The friendly attitude of the two messengers disappeared immediately. Without giving us any further attention or even saying goodbye they hurried out and we did not see them again that evening. We also noticed that the space in front of our hut, which had shortly before been so lively, remained entirely abandoned although the noise of many voices came to us from afar. Apart from a dog running around growling there was no living creature to be seen. We called for Peter and Freeman. They did not appear. Holding the carbines under our arms, we went to the house of our people. We found them hunched up in a corner of the room but their chatter, which was already quite subdued, ceased completely when they became aware of our presence. That is very unusual for chatty Negroes and we at once became suspicious. I asked ‘Where is Mbua, the interpreter?’ Nobody knew, nobody could find him. ‘Where is Molla Musinje?’ ‘He accompanied Mr Waldau.’ ‘Good. When Mbua comes back, send him to us immediately.’ ‘All right Masser.’

This ‘all right’ that I had heard a thousand times before had always sounded much more cheerful and happy. ‘I do not know why’, I said [to Knutson] as we stepped outside again, ‘But I have a feeling that everything is not all right. What right does this devilish Mbua have to leave us just when the little Molla is missing?’ ‘He is probably having an affair again, but tell me: Is it really so incredibly cold or do I have a fever?’ ‘God forbid, because our people do not exactly seem to be abounding in courage tonight.’ ‘You do not think that they are going to attack us, do you?’ ‘Why not, if our wonderful treasures have awakened the greed of the Negroes?’ ‘Nonsense, you are underestimating the cowardice of the Negro nature. But we can keep our rifles and guns ready just in case.’ ‘Should we not prepare our people for resistance?’ ‘I do not think it would be wise considering their present condition. We are in a peaceful village. Letongo has called his people back and the others have gone to bed.’

Knutson was shaking as he stepped in front of the candle placed in an empty bottle, and his lips were blue. His hands and his forehead were hot, his pulse was fast

260

HUGO ZÖLLER

and I persuaded him to lie down immediately on a bed which I had prepared for him in the meantime. I covered him with all the blankets and coats we owned, gave him quinine and called for Peter so that he could make some sweat-inducing tea. But Peter did not appear; I almost had to force him to come. I asked: ‘What is the matter, Peter?’ ‘Nothing, Masser.’ ‘You are probably cross because you were defeated today, but that can happen even to the best and the strongest man.’ Peter did not reply. When leaving he simply growled: ‘Me no like mountains.’

Mr Knutson said, ‘That does not surprise me, because these Kru people are, after all, half amphibian. If they do not sit in mangrove swamps, they think that something is wrong.’ The fever became worse and worse but the relieving and calming effect of sweating did not occur. The candle was burnt down and the dark night that we could see through the door, which was only closed at the bottom, was solemnly quiet, apart from some chirping and humming noises. Despite my wish to stay awake and despite the hard bed, I had fallen asleep when Knutson took hold of my arm and wanted me to listen. He said ‘I do not know if it is the effect of the fever or the quinine, but it sounds like the kind of drumbeat to me with which these people sound the alarm in times of war.’ I clearly heard the roll of drums, but being entirely unfamiliar with the drum language of the Bakweri, I could not, of course, distinguish if it was the war whoop. ‘Go to Mbua again’, Knutson suggested. When I came to our people, I saw a dark human figure quickly disappearing into a corner. ‘Mbua,’ I shouted. No answer. I now approached the figure that was hiding and recognized our noble interpreter for whom I have since this moment (although my companions have several times tried to clear him) felt insurmountable detest and dislike. On the way back to our huts I clearly heard a host of voices from many people nearby that sounded as if they were quarrelling and trying to advance different arguments from different camps. When asked what was happening, Mbua would have us believe that it was a women palaver. ‘In the middle of the night – that is impossible,’ Mr Knutson declared. I interrupted, ‘I hear the word “Velande” everywhere. What does that mean?’ ‘Rum.’ ‘And the word “Kelati”?’ ‘Paper or document.’ ‘And the word ‘Mukalla’? ‘Whiteman!’

Then, in other words, Mbua was lying because in an adultery palaver there would hardly be talk of paper, rum and Whitemen. We considered it advisable to take all the precautions available to us should we have to defend ourselves. While I collected weapons and ammunition, Mbua was ordered to gather our Blacks immediately. When he had not returned after 5 or 10 minutes, I stepped out carrying my gun in my hand in order to find out what caused the delay. I saw people armed with shotguns and shouted to them that they should come closer, thinking that they were our own people. But they calmly

DER DEUTSCHE KOLONIAL KAMERUN 1885

261

remained standing and also did not reply. Then I saw that there were not only twenty, but fifty, eighty, one hundred armed men who had more or less encircled our hut and had completely cut us off from our Blacks. Although I could almost hear my heart beating in my chest, I wisely did not show too much of a hurry when returning to our hut. Knutson, who had not believed in any danger until now, was now convinced that they had evil intentions. I was still narrating what had happened, standing by his bedside, when the doorway, which was only closed at the bottom while allowing the penetration of the starlight at the top, was darkened by the appearance of several heads which, however, immediately disappeared again at the sight of the two shining barrels. Although the light bamboo hut offered no protection whatsoever against bullets and could also easily be set on fire, we decided to stay there. For the Negro fears more what he does not see than what he does see. In the face of our weapons, it would have taken more courage to push through the doorway than we would ascribe to the Blacks. If they began to shoot into the building, we could return the fire through the wide gaps between the bamboo canes without being quite the target that we would have been in the open air. And if, indeed, they were to set fire to the hut, there would be time enough for us to storm out before we would be harmed. With great pleasure I realized that the starlight sufficed for me to see the fore sight of my rifle. It was more difficult to recognize things and particularly a Negro figure in the shade of the thick bushes. It was unclear to me if the Negroes were trying to hide themselves or not. For while the majority were standing in the shadow of those bushes and also remained there, every now and again the odd person or small groups would come very close, apparently with the aim to find out what was going on inside. Two or three times they were even banging heavily on the other side of the hut while I was standing in the doorway. I hurried over there and then it became silent again. Half an hour, one hour, passed without the Blacks making any move whatsoever to attack us apart from the occasional, always very quick, passing of people in front of our doorway swinging their rifles. At the same time they spoke and quarrelled so loudly that I could have understood every word, had I known the Bakweri language. I thus spent a not very pleasant night, at once nursing and listening for noises from the outside, or in other words holding the teapot in one hand and the shotgun in the other. When, towards four o’clock in the morning, the occupants of our hut, who had got more and more quiet, withdrew completely and when the dawn broke at 5.30, I felt sore all over. But I had the comfort that Knutson, after intense sweating, had fallen into a soothing sleep. My people either did not know about the events of the night or at least pretended not to know. Their mood was also such that they soon were to cause me much more trouble than all Bueas together. (The strange behaviour of the Buea people was not explained later either. When an inquiry took place seven days later, on 17 January, in front of Dr. Nachtigal and Mr Schmidt and with Mbua and my Kru people, some of the latter said that Mbua had made them afraid of cannibals and had advised them to run away from us or, if we were to be attacked, to remain calm and passive. Mbua reluctantly admitted this but excused himself with his own fear and furthermore said that in that night, Bakweri people hired by the Victorians – probably inhabitants of Bongola and

262

HUGO ZÖLLER

Bonjongo – had arrived in Buea in order to work up the population against us. The mood had been divided and the minority had been for, the majority against us. He did not know if they had wanted to attack us. In any case it had been decided to demand an excessively high price for the handing over of the unused land in order to learn exactly how many goods we actually carried with us. I forgot to ask Mbua about Letongo because I had other things and new tasks on my mind at that time.) The early hours of the morning of 10 January were to place me before a decision harder than any other in my life. Mr Knutson had now recovered so much from the fever the night before that he could sit in front of our hut and breathe in the fresh morning air. But curiously enough, out of all our Blacks, only a few Kru people were present and these claimed to know nothing of the whereabouts of the others. We were most concerned about Mr Waldau whose absence we could not explain since the time had already passed 7, 7.30 and 8 o’clock and whom we would have gone to meet if it had not been for the disappearing of our people. If the Buea people really did have hostile intentions, it was clear that not only our luggage – which we could not take with us without carriers – but also the whole column might be destroyed if Knutson and I left. Under these circumstances a division of our forces would be highly unwise. Having lulled ourselves into confidence, made one mistake after another, and allowed our small group to be divided in three the night before, we did not feel justified in placing our own safety and that of our people in even greater danger after the experiences of the previous night. We therefore had to wait for Mr Waldau, however hard this seemed, and only when all our people were present could we think about setting out to meet him. My Kru people turned out to be just as big liars as they were pathetic cowards7 and despite their many good qualities, my respect for them began to vanish. Nobody out of the entire population of Buea appeared until 8.30 o’clock whereupon, however, while our men began to return little by little, a most violent palaver, which several times seemed to end up in a scuffle, took place so close to us that we could easily distinguish individual voices. In that very moment, when we were busy providing weapons and ammunition for the march to Letongo’s residence a few kilometres away, Mr Waldau appeared to our great and inexplicable joy, accompanied by Letongo himself. During the previous evening and night it had merely seemed odd to Mr Waldau that no more adult men had been visible after he, too, had heard the battle drums. Letongo was accompanied by an even larger number of followers than on the previous evening and all these people were not only carrying cavalry and artillery swords, but were also wearing another much more original kind of ornament, namely long false beards, partly black, partly red – an ornament, if one can call it thus, which in all of West Africa I have only seen in Buea. When asked in a stern voice by Molla Musinje what had taken place during the night and in the morning, Letongo, too, spoke of a dispute over women, shrouding this obviously false account in foolish remarks, which are not worthy of being repeated here. … Despite the unfortunate impression caused by this web of lies, it was clear that Letongo and the other chiefs, who were with him, wished to begin negotiations. We had all the nobles enter our hut and sat down across from them without, how-

DER DEUTSCHE KOLONIAL KAMERUN 1885

263

ever, putting our rifles and guns away. Letongo, who either did not understand the meaning of a Protectorate or at least pretended not to understand it, spoke merely of selling the area and thereby surrendering the sovereignty over it. When asked by Mbua, whom Mr Knutson had fetched in the meantime, how much he wanted for it, he took a banana leaf and tore it up into seven strips which, if Mbua translated it correctly (which I doubt), was to mean 700 Pounds Sterling or 14000 M[arks]. Later, and only after long discussions among the nobles, the price was lowered to 500, 400 and then even to 300 Pounds Sterling. I almost thought that we were approaching the end since the last amount, although quite high, was, after all, acceptable, when all of a sudden on a given sign which I did not understand the whole assembly moved towards the doorway and ran in each their direction as if they had been seized by some terrible fright. All efforts to bring the people back together were in vain. Only Letongo appeared once more to give me the seemingly and perhaps also really well-meaning advice to hoist a flag if I had one. Nothing would be undertaken to prevent this. To my indescribable shame I had to cover up in all sorts of excuses the fact that those of my countrymen who had sent me on this journey and authorized me to go on it, had not granted me the right to bring a flag.‘Go on, hoist your flag if you have one,’ Letongo shouted in an almost derisive voice, and on the faces of my Swedish companions I also thought I noticed a trace of mistrust and disappointment. Can, I wonder, the reader imagine what bitterness I felt in this embarrassing situation? I had no flag, not just no war flag, but not even a black-white-red one; before my departure I had asked for one again and again but in vain; my request had not been met because of fear that complications might arise from hoisting a flag. I could, admittedly, have bought a black-white-red flag myself of the kind that every German is allowed to own. But considering myself a voluntary and unpaid official of my country under the present circumstances, I felt obliged to follow the commands offered to me in the form of advice, in exactly the way I would have done, had I been an employed civil servant. In spite of this I cannot help pointing out that if I had had a war flag, not only Lecumbi and Buea but the whole mountain, except the areas which were already under English protectorate, would already then have become German and not only after the negotiations undertaken with London. The Buea people’s strange behaviour must, according to what I have slowly learned about it, be explained by the agents of the Victorians arriving during the night from 9 till 10 almost succeeding in starting an attack against us which, however, only seems to have been stopped because part of the Buea people was on our side. Despite the great desire for our treasures, the Buea people did not dare to make a contract with us for fear of the English and the Victorians. But since they were against the Victorians in their hearts, whom they fear just as much as all other Bakweri, they would not have objected to the act, in which they themselves played no part, of hoisting a flag which, as they suspected, might offer them protection from the English and the Victorians. When, however, it became clear that I had no flag with me, the Buea people seem to have let go of the idea that I could protect them from the feared Victorians. And from that moment onwards, they would have nothing to do with me, treating me as with a person whose friendship could

HUGO ZÖLLER

264

be harmful. Besides, Rogozinski and the Victorians had spread the rumour that I had killed five people with my own hands in Cameroon. When it became clear to me that even if we did stay another week, we would get nothing more in Buea than the promise which they had already given us (and which was completely worthless) to make no contract with Rogozinski and the Victorians, I decided to begin the march to Soppo as quickly as possible. Through the investigations carried out among the natives over several weeks, and also through the information made available to me by the two Swedes, I had succeeded in getting an idea, however superficial, of the formation of the mountain and the course of the trade routes used by the Negroes and the position of the many small villages, of which even the merchants knew only Mapanja apart from the places along the coast…. But it had been decided that I was not going to reach my goal that easily. ‘Get ready, you boys; we will be marching on,’ I shouted to the Kru people. No reply and no movement. ‘Come on – get up; it is time to go!’ Deathly silence. I now approached Freeman and asked, ‘What is wrong with you?’ ‘Oh, Masser, Masser,’ the captain of my Kru people began while rising respectfully, ‘Leave us here if you want to move on; we do not at all like this wild, ugly country and we would be of no use to you.’ ‘So you are afraid, Freeman?’ The brawny Blackman smiled shamefully like a little girl. ‘Do you not know, Freeman, that Kru boys who are not accompanied by a Whiteman are usually caught and sold as slaves?’ ‘That is still better than being killed and eaten.’ ‘Nonsense, Freeman! When you are with me, nothing bad will happen to you. But if you stay here alone, I could not guarantee your safety.’ . ‘But the Mapanja people do not want to come either.’ ‘They do not? Who has told you that?’ ‘Mbua.’ ‘All right, we will see.’

As I approached the Mapanja people, I ordered that the luggage be loaded. Nobody obeyed and some were running away to one side like timid dogs. With my Winchester rifle in my hand, I approached the man who was closest to me and ordered him once again to pick up his bale of goods. He did not obey. Then I pushed him hard with the butt of the rifle. When the others saw this, some of those who had already placed themselves furthest away began to run. ‘Stop!’, I shouted, as loudly as I could. But they continued to run although their heads were turned around in my direction, and Mbua, who stood very nearby, began to laugh loudly and mockingly. The first of the deserters, turning around a corner, had already got out of my sight; but feeling that authority had to be reinstated at any cost, I quickly hurried the same way, raising my rifle while I kept shouting ‘Stop! Stop!’ and aimed at the second one. Fortunately, the man, who had been running away with his head turned so that he could observe my actions, stopped. I then walked towards him, aiming at him again when he ran a few steps further and indicated to him with my hand that he should return to the others. This time he obeyed and the others also seemed to have lost their desire to desert. I looked in vain for the

DER DEUTSCHE KOLONIAL KAMERUN 1885

265

Swedes and waved to Tom that he should come since he was the one I still trusted the most. ‘I must deal with Mbua’, I said to him, ‘in the meantime take my gun and make sure that the men do not run away’. Mbua, who was sitting on a stone, at first turned his head away when I approached him. But no sooner had the barrel of the gun in my hand touched his forehead than he clearly began to shiver, mumbling something like: ‘I will do everything, everything that you order.’

I then said, and so loud that everybody around us could hear, ‘Mbua, you joined my service voluntarily, not merely like these carriers here but promising to faithfully stand by my side as my interpreter and my confidant. And yet you have not only disobeyed me, but you have unfaithfully betrayed me when we were drawn into war by a hostile country. According to the laws of all peoples such behaviour deserves one punishment, death. If I were to crush your head now, nobody could say that I had acted wrongly. But I do not want to diminish the goal that I pursue by killing somebody as wretched as you. You may go on living and receive in full the undeserved payment that I have reserved for you down in Bimbia. I tell you merely one thing: at the next incident of unfaithfulness, however small it may be, or at any attempt to flee, your life is lost; if I do not kill you myself, I will have you shot by my Kru people.’

Mbua, who was by no means stupid, understood very well what and how I meant what I had just said, and although his energy and limbs seemed to have been paralysed by this realization, he carried out everything I demanded with his body shaking. I now, in fact, found myself in the unpleasant position of needing the services of this man, however much I detested him. For apart from his undeniably great influence on the Mapanja people, I had no confidence in the translation skills of the little Molla, which had hardly been put to the test. My next order to Mbua was to distribute the luggage among his countrymen from Mapanja. I am entirely convinced that Mbua made the greatest effort in doing this since, when reporting back to me that the Mapanja people refused to march even if I were to shoot half of them, his otherwise quite black face had turned almost ashen grey from fear. Then I thought I will make another and last attempt together with the Swedes, and if that fails too, sacrifice two thirds of the luggage and simply march on with the Kru people. My two white companions stood a bit aside behind the hut as if the disobedience and desertion of my people were none of their business. I asked them, ‘Is it all right with you if we leave the Mapanja people here and simply move on to Soppo with my Kru boys?’ Mr Knutson answered, ‘After last night’s experiences that would mean certain death.’ ‘So you do not want to accompany me?’ ‘We are terribly sorry but...’

I looked at the man to see if he was joking, but then all at once I realized what I had until then refused to realize, namely that I had arrived at the end of my little campaign. One hour after another passed while I was brooding, sitting on a small stone or making and dismissing one plan after another while walking through the nearby bush area. A kind fate must have taken a liking to me; otherwise I would certainly

HUGO ZÖLLER

266

have got myself sunstroke because I had not thought of bringing my helmet which was back at the hut. It was 3 o’clock in the afternoon when I pulled myself together to do the unavoidable, namely to give the order to march back. I felt as though I was uttering the death sentence of my own honour. Before doing that, however, I made one very last and from the very beginning hopeless attempt. I went to my Kru people and said in no demanding tone – in fact it was rather begging: ‘In the short time that you have accompanied me I have taken care of you as a father would take care of his children. You know that it means a lot to me to get to Soppo and that this will entail only little danger if any at all. Those of you who want to accompany me will not regret it. Apart from the regular salary and a good gift, I will give you so much that you can buy a woman back home in Kru country. Thus, whoever wants to join me, come over here, so that I can call him the most courageous of all my people.’

Nobody came forward. Three Krus were even lying panting and vomiting on the ground. They claimed to be very ill; however, since they were completely healed by that same evening when the food portions were handed out, I am convinced that they were just demonstrating one of their many tricks. General disagreement broke out in response to my order to load the baggage again because we intended to march back to Mapanja that same evening. Mr Knutson shouted, ‘Impossible! We have to stay the night in Buassa!’ ‘We will not spend the night in Buassa because I have a new plan whose realization depends on every hour that we can gain.’ ‘Nobody has ever marched from Buea to Mapanja in one day, not to mention one afternoon.’8 ‘So much the better, then we will be the first!’

When the long column finally began to move, I formed the end. Mbua, who knew that I would shoot him at the smallest attempt to escape, had to walk very closely in front of me. Anyone who stayed behind, put down his load or caused a delay in any other way, received such a blow from my carbine that he was certain not to try it a second time. The only hope for this project, which had after all been already begun, seemed to be for me to get to Soppo before Rogozinski, even if it meant a huge detour through Victoria, Bimbia and Mbinga, and to hoist the flag which I hoped finally to get in Bimbia. This passionate urge, almost reaching a state of courage, to reach this goal explains the feverish hurry with which I drove my people onwards, constantly running. In this way, I took them to Mapanja in one four-hour forced march (20 kilometres across sharp lava stone). However, when we arrived there, the skin on all the Blacks’ feet had been completely torn and cut to pieces. I also do not want to hide the fact that nine of them had got fairly bad-looking but harmless wounds on their shins, knees, elbows etc., from false steps, and stumbling with their load. It only remains to be said that close to Buassa we met Rogozinski who was also headed there. While the Pole and I greeted each other and exchanged a few words, our columns had stopped some 100 feet apart on a small tree-less plain. In Cameroon some sort of legend later spread that I could and should have taken Rogozinski captive then, and that I had not done this out of friendship for the Pole. I do, however, want to point out that even on the land of the German Protectorate

DER DEUTSCHE KOLONIAL KAMERUN 1885

267

of Buassa, on which Rogozinski was standing at the time, I lacked every right to take captive a man whose only offence until that day consisted in the illegal hoisting of an English flag. And one does not hang him either, unless one has [caught] him! Apart from his companion Janikowski, Rogozinski was in command of over fifteen Victorians armed with brand new rifles, which I would have had to oppose with a demoralized and almost mutinous troop. In Rogozinski’s company was also Mundjua, the beautiful girl from Bonjongo, her native town is after all, as I have already mentioned elsewhere, if not under the rule of the Victorians, then at least certainly under their direct influence.

Chapter XI On the evening of 10 January, arriving in Mapanja with my entire small army shortly after 8 o’clock, I paid and discharged the unreliable Mapanja people, so that I would be completely free and independent for the next morning. To my great delight I found Mr Stehr, the Woermann agent for Victoria in the house of the Swedes, who had come up there with a letter addressed to me from Dr Nachtigal, and he announced to me that the people of Victoria had decided, if they could get hold of me, to take me prisoner. Dr Nachtigal’s letter, written with truly microscopically small letters, ran as follows: Bimbia River, near Mbinga [Bwenga] Creek 8 January 1885 To Mr Hugo Zöller in Mapanja My most excellent Sir! I have just obtained your worthy epistle via some Bimbia people, who were travelling to Mbinga to go to market, and am hurrying to answer with this letter, that Mr Schmidt, in consideration of the rum you requested, is sending to his agent in Bimbia. To ensure that these lines reach your hands intact, I have, with hindsight, been compelled to employ this microscopic handwriting. Yesterday evening I finalized a protection treaty with the king of Mbinga, who is a very friendly man, and within the same half-hour had gone off to urge his neighbours by the Mungo river to follow the same route. I had sent orders yesterday to these three neighbouring kings to be at the same place where I anticipated finding myself after noon. Then there would be settled plains extending from the foot of the mountain to the Mungo River, and it would then remain only for the results of your exertions with regard to the mountain itself. Perhaps you could direct the king and chiefs to come to Mbinga, which lies only an hour from his beach. To judge by what King Njeka told me, Soppo should be a day’s travel from Mbinga and Buea should lie quite close to Soppo. Up until now we have heard no news of the suspicious movements of the Joss people, and the Seagull will be, if not in her present position – from which one can almost see Mbinga Creek – remaining in the river itself until your return. Good luck with your reporting, much joy and good health, and bonne chance! With heartfelt greetings from Mr Schmidt, who is taking excellent care of the preliminaries, and best wishes likewise from your most faithful. (signed) G Nachtigal

That was at the very least a ray of hope, but cowardice and shame over the two defeats at Lecumbi and Buea inflamed my brain so strongly that I could at first neither settle down nor go to sleep. Throughout the whole night I must have lain

HUGO ZÖLLER

268

in reverie, as in a feverish delirium; now it seemed as if I really had a fever, now as if the overstimulation of my nerves was to blame. As I awoke, around 5 A.M., I fancied that my limbs were paralyzed. But once I had gone out of the hut into the fresh morning air, I felt all the energy of the European returning to me; I awoke my Kru and reminded them of our imminent departure. ‘So shall we really see the sea today?’ asked Freeman. ‘Oh, for certain! But only if you’re good.’ ‘And will we also go to Bimbia today?’ ‘I hope so.’ ‘And then will we return to Cameroon?’ ‘No, you must accompany me once again to the mountain.’

Captain Miene [meaning Freeman] grew more gloomy at this, but I sought to heal this wound through the gift of a bundle of tobacco, and his joy at the thought of returning to Bimbia, if nothing else, gained the upper hand. It was otherwise with Mbua, the interpreter, who we had let sleep in our hut so that he should not slip away from us. He was afraid of the revenge of the Victorians, because he had helped us, and with shaking limbs he pleaded that he would accompany us to Victoria, provided we would not have him imprisoned. ‘Do you know what this is, Mbua?’ I asked, indicating my revolver.The interpreter nodded unhappily. I continued: ‘You know what awaits you: a small fortune, with which you can buy women or goats, or –death.’ ‘They will attack you, O Lord!’ ‘They will not do it, since Victoria lies on the sea, inside the sphere of influence of German warships. But if they do it, what would be so bad?’ ‘The Kru are afraid.’ ‘I know that, but we Whitemen know no fear. Mark it, Mbua!’

Mr Stehr, who finds the Victorians down in Victoria unmitigatedly irritating, decided to stay one more day in Mapanja, so it was therefore Knutson, Waldau and your humble servant who set out on the march, with seven Kru and one interpreter. Those of the goods which we had brought with us which we had not given away were left behind in Mapanja, where Mr Stehr could look them over and make out my bill. On the way Mbua, whose dread seemed to be continually growing, caught dysentery and carried on in such a pitiable way that the sympathy, which I usually experience for such illnesses, was smothered by a feeling of disdain. I ordered Tom to stand by him with a loaded rifle every time he went into the bush and to shoot him down at the first flight attempt. As we crossed over the river that I mentioned earlier, half an hour away from Victoria, the little colonne, if I may use the [French] expression, made itself ready for battle and we Whites began to carry our own guns. So that nothing would be said about my secret passage through the area, we chose the longer way across the locality and walked with shouldered rifles through the main street. We arrived during divine service, and also when the greater part of the adult men of the mountain had decided to move out, and so there were very few people in the houses that we passed by. But these few rushed to and fro in as much excitement as if they had been the sentries of an ants’ nest that we had disturbed with a stick. I saw old

DER DEUTSCHE KOLONIAL KAMERUN 1885

269

Brew, with a haste hardly suited to his years and dignity (as President of the Court of Equity), running to the Mission, where he ducked so carefully behind houses and enclosures that it seemed as if he was convinced that we would shoot him. This – for the most part groundless – commotion had the effect of lending support to the acceptance of the notion that the Victorians lacked a pure conscience and made one suspect that we had turned their own evil intentions against themselves…

Chapter XII Mr Krohn, the administrator of the Bimbia factory, welcomed us… we continued on to the Seagull, anchored two sea miles away, taking Mbua with us… my Swedish friends [were at first reluctant to dine with Hoffman, captain of the corvette, because] they were somewhat ashamed of their curious dress, in which the thorns of the wilderness had ripped large, irreparable holes. I requested, and received permission, to let Mbua look around the ship [that he] might receive a proper introduction to the power of the European nations. … The comfortless, [uninhabited] beach of Mbinga, [is]… the only place from which a waterway leads all the way from the shore… through into the land. [A]nd is the only route by which the Bimbia people travel on their trade voyages with oil-producing towns. … [B]efore Dr Nachtigal no Whiteman had come to Mbinga Market, and before me, none had extended themselves in the direction of Mbinga town. [I formed] the conviction that the most direct route from Soppo to Bimbia was that which lay via Mbinga. … [T]he Bimbia Chief Ikongolo…, after being handsomely paid by the Captain of the coastal steamer Dualla… revealed the way to Mbinga Market. … The eight remaining Bimbia chiefs were very angry… King Njeka, … was a majestic man of very pleasing and winning manners. What a contrast he made with the ‘wild’ kings of the highlands! Unfortunately, … the wellwishing Njeka had no less cunning than did the rough-hewn Letongo. … The man was dressed in a clean loincloth and a shining brand new, but frankly also well-kept, straw hat. ... Despite his relatively youthful age of barely forty years, he wore a handsome black full beard, … His aspect was every bit as dignified as it was friendly… Njeka, however, was what one could… call a well-educated and well-brought-up human being. …[He had ] eleven queens, … no single one of whom was not impressive or majestic… Njeka’s small kingdom boasted about 1000 inhabitants, including, besides Mbinga town, Mubita, Mbinga-Bokwai, Debanda and Wututu… Njeka told me that King Esuka of Bongandjo was at war with Buea, although he would be able to bring only 120 armed men against the 250 warriors of that place, so I felt that I had good grounds to believe that the ruler, who was then still unknown to me, would sign a treaty with pleasure to strengthen his position. Bongandjo, that is sometimes also called Bondongo, counts itself with Buea, Lisoka, Soppo and Mbinga among the most heavily populated market towns of the mountain and possesses also, due to the expanse and fruitfulness of the surrounding area, a comparable importance. Njeka, who seemed to be very much at home in Esuka’s residence, furnished us with the intelligence that the king, who was well advanced in years, was

270

HUGO ZÖLLER

sick and perhaps could not appear at all, lived in an unusually large and very clean, although possibly, following a religious sacrifice, blood-splattered, chamber. As we took our places on the humble, footstool-like and circular Negro seats that were distributed about, there appeared in the threshold the venerable figure, leaning on a staff, of the white-haired and tall, although unfortunately somewhat fearful-seeming ruler, who, if I am not mistaken, held the title, as did Letongo of Buea, of ‘High King.’ After hearing our urgent wishes, the drums of the people, and especially those of the chiefs, began to announce that a public meeting should be held about this important matter. In between, Esuka listened carefully to Njeka’s eloquent insinuations, and let us know through Mbua that a treaty would be very welcome, but that we must, however, stay with him [i.e. Esuka] for one or two days, so that he could slaughter goats and pigs and prepare to throw a big celebration. The granting of this royal request made it impossible for us to fulfil our urgent wish to reach Soppo before Rogozinski did, so, in order to mollify Esuka’s temper, we ordered with all haste, so as to do it before the arrival of the people, that gifts be brought for the king alone. These consisted for the most part of pieces of silk, since the actual purchase price for ceded land and the like must be paid in so many pieces of ‘Satin Stripes,’ ‘Big Madras,’ ‘Big, big Madras (the word big being repeated eight times for the best sort) and similarly named cotton stuffs. The worst kind, namely that which no factory could be without, Satin Stripes (no one seems able to explain the origin of the strange name) are so threadbare that the weave is held together by coloured paste, and after only one wash it definitely cannot hold together any more. This time I had thought I should desist from bringing with me coloured satin, family umbrellas, old uniform jackets and polished sabres from Napoleonic times, since such things cannot be transported without much difficulty, and due to the small number of bearers for my bales of goods I supplied myself only with the customary currency, that is cotton things, a few silk things for the kings and chiefs, and some tobacco for the buying of necessities, to which was then added two demijohns of rum to be applied to improve the popular mood in case of need. The Negroes know how to judge such goods as skilfully as the most expert merchant, so I had chosen the most expensive and, by African standards, valuable, items, in order to lend an inexorable weight to my cause, but also ensuring that I did not want for the famous Satin Stripes, which the Negroes trusted the best of all. Regarding these goods, which I brought with me and later gave away, a bill was made out for them in the factories without my ever having to concern myself over such things, and my Swedish friends took away from me with pleasure the trouble of handling the mercantile aspects of the trip, so I am for once not able to say to the reader exactly how valuable these lordly manufactured goods were. But I vaguely recall that every piece of ‘big big big big big big big big Madras’ which was the non plus ultra of African sartorial luxury, was valued at about a double sovereign (40 marks). By my accounting, which I do not precisely trust, my kind hosts charged me only the European purchase prices without freight or expense charges, and stuffed the manifest full of Blue Prints, White Prints, Victoria cloth and Fancy Prints; it was not wise to inquire too closely how they accomplished this. So much is sure, that when my treasure was displayed, which Messrs. Knut-

DER DEUTSCHE KOLONIAL KAMERUN 1885

271

son and Waldau with great cleverness showed me how to do in the appropriate way, it evoked a barely concealed astonishment, as if something were placed before them that was, for these regions, truly something out of the ordinary, never before seen. Even the High King Esuka, although he rebuked and sent out a few of his subjects for their cupidity, was also overcome by the magic of retail sales and when the three chiefs Motumbe [Motombe], Gbame and Gombi arrived, accompanied by many people, I believed that it would be possible to give Esuka the conviction that it was as of utmost importance to discuss our affairs. At the beginning all seemed to go well, and afterwards, once Esuka and the three chiefs, as well as a few other greybeards (grey hair is as common among very old Negroes as baldness is rare), had decided that they would gladly conclude a treaty similar to that which Njeka had signed, I began to make out this piece of writing, but was delayed through a minor incident. When we emphasized that we could stay no longer than a few hours this time, Esuka insisted on at least making the gift of a pig to me, according to local custom, and we relayed it back to the (Kru and Mbinga) bearers who received this usual host-gift with jubilation. An exclamation made by Mr Waldau as he stepped out of the hut alerted me to the fact that the screaming animal had been eviscerated and had its hind legs cut off and placed in pots without it being actually killed. My nerves shattered by this terrible sight, I felt a great wrath rising in my head and I dealt the animal-torturing Mbinga man such a blow with the butt of my carbine that he fell bleeding to the ground. The pig was killed by Tom according to my sharp orders, and the Mbinga man, whose skin seemed a bit scratched, stood up again after a long while. About this a murmur ran through the vast crowd that now stood ready, which Mbua translated with the words ‘Whiteman treats Blackman very badly.’ In the Negro, who is basically a good fellow, I found not the smallest trace of delight at animal torture, which the North- and South-American Indians have developed into a fine art; however the Blacks will, by contrast, eat animals (and sometimes also people) in an unbelievably barbarous and callous way and can seem, although more passively, almost every bit as cruel as the Indians schooled in agony. … Turning around, I beheld… a Negro who was wholly unknown to me. I asked, ‘What do you want?’ ‘I wish to speak with you, O Sir, as without me you will not be able to conclude your treaty. I am the fetish-priest or medicine man of Money Town in Bimbialand. How much will you pay me, if I speak for you, and give you what you need to have your treaty signed without further trouble?’ He explained in very bad English. ‘Boy, leave me in peace and do not try to incite the people against me, or I’ll have you clapped in irons.’

Mr Waldau plucked at my sleeve as he heard these words and gestured for me to step to one side with him. He suggested: ‘It would be best if we stopped his mouth with a piece of cloth… Do you realize the power and influence held by such a medicine man? He could make things really difficult for us.’ ‘Impossible. How delighted the English would be later, if they received even the slightest confirmation to the assertion that we have achieved our goal through bribery and

HUGO ZÖLLER

272

other unallowed means. Our treaties must be legally and morally incontestible, or else they have no value.’

[As Esuka, after some persuasion, was about to sign the treaty, unluckily his gaze fell on the fetish-priest.] Esuka laid the pen down again and went away. … I ordered my people to put the medicine man in chains, [but] as the iron manacles were brought out, the criminal… was not found. I realized that I had made a stupid mistake. One is never too old to learn… Later [without anything being signed] I caused a mighty flagstaff to be planted and called upon all the people of Bongandjo…, the banner rose, greeted by a salvo from the guns of those assembled. [Bullikova lay due east from Bongandjo, about 4 and a half kilometres distant]… Shortly, [I noticed] a whole crowd of people equipped with spears and flintlock muskets. [After some misgivings, Zöller realized they were out to greet them.] Our people began to get sick… Mr Waldau, who felt unwell and whose illfitting boots had no soles left, wished to stay behind in Bullikova. [They went to Bonjoko, where King Nduva and Chief Bonda met them]… Of the many people with whom I had begun, only Mr Knutson, Mbua, Tom and Lazy Boy came with me to Soppo… As we reached the big marketplace before the king’s residence, we saw the English banner was flying. So we were too late, then!… While I myself kept tenaciously to Dr Nachtigal’s instructions and was able, even with the expenditure of all my energy, to bring with me only a perfidious translator [Mbua] and a cowardly corps of bearers, Rogozinski, who had any desirable number of translators at his command, hoisted the English banner doubtlessly indifferent to whether or not a treaty had been signed. … We had expected to meet Rogozinski again in Soppo, but we heard that he had gone back to Buea, in order to build up the fortifications, and that he had single-handedly held at least fifteen armed Victorians and ten bearers at bay at the close of the evening. He had not been successful in achieving anything in Buea, faced with the resistance of the local population, whereas it seemed by contrast as if Soppo really had signed a treaty with him. We could not precisely discover the truth of this, as the king of Soppo, seemingly gripped by fear, had refused to see us. While I read public notices from the ‘Royal British Court of Victoria’ posted at the King’s residence, Mr Knutson had a long and serious conversation with the local inhabitants, who were streaming in with all possible speed. He told me later that he made it clear to the people what a great act of stupidity they had committed. For I was the biggest Croesus [rich man] in all of Africa, who distributed gifts to all and sundry. The people were rapidly convinced, and were genuinely ashamed of themselves for coming away with Rogozinski’s not terribly abundant gifts. Mbua and Tom seemed likely to laugh themselves to death over this private joke that my jolly companion had allowed himself. There was, for once, nothing that we could do about the fact that Soppo, at least for the present, was lost to us and we faced the inevitable cheerfully. The reader who follows the daily political stories will recollect that similar annexations were in progress in South Africa or Polynesia, that of the Cape Colony and of the Australian colonies, which were neither recognized by our government nor supported by the English government. And naturally the tiny English colony of Victoria had just as little right as the Cape Province or New South Wales to annex this land off its own bat and meddle in foreign affairs.9

DER DEUTSCHE KOLONIAL KAMERUN 1885

273

Soppo, from which we could see the tip of the Holy Mountain 30º to the northwest, lay on a plateau on the slope of the mountain, about 2500 to 2800 feet above sea level. If one were to go from there to Buea (I did not try this route myself), one would have to climb about 500 feet downhill.10 The place could boast about a hundred men capable of bearing arms and its very large herds of goats allowed for a proportionately comfortable lifestyle. The mountain town of Soppo thus stood in strongly favourable comparison to the neighbouring area of Buea, with its uncontrolled cattle-breeding, although with the difference, that Buea devoted its attention to its beautiful cattle, while Soppo to its countless goats.11 I had thought of going further on to Lisoka – which under the prevailing circumstances seemed rather adventurous – but was dissuaded by Knutson’s admonishments and allusions to the situation of our people. Without incident, we reached Bonjoko whose wide-extending district seemed to us, now that the Victorians had seized Soppo, to have doubled in worth, concluded a treaty with King Nduva and Chief Bonda, which dealt with their maintenance of thirty men capable of bearing arms, and returned early in the day to Bullikova without seeing anything more of Bonjoko than the rather pitiful royal hut… The women of Bonjemal had, for some apparently religious occasion, smeared themselves with a white substance that in consideration of their excessively strongly developed body shapes and their almost total nudity looked rather decent. How strange it was, that the mourners of the deceased, and particularly these women who were usually barely dressed, were so devoted to their religious observances of the occasion, that they seemed perfectly well-dressed even by our own standards! As Tom and Mbua heaped up a few chests to use as an improvised writing-desk on the square before the King’s dwelling-place, from where one had a splendid view down to the valley covered with palm trees, we – now myself, now the other two – were admired again and again by a truly pretty girl or woman. The agreement was signed by King Ekombene, Chief Muimbe and Chief Nye, with crosses standing in place of the signatures of these notables. Gifts, which as elsewhere customarily consisted of manufactured articles, were distributed so that the King received a quarter, the chiefs another quarter and the people received the remaining half. Afterwards one had to yield up yet another gift, this one in tobacco. The people would not wish to settle the closing of such a treaty in any other form than that of gifts. The Negroes throughout were not without a certain delicacy, and all these kings and chiefs had it right truly, although there was also the unspoken feeling that one cannot sell land, for it is only in the case of a pact of friendship or protection that there are no obstacles to its purchase. Soon a rumour was imparted to us in Bonjemal that two Whitemen, accompanied by a whole multitude of uniformed bearers, had arrived at Mbinga and were apparently going to march towards us. There could be no doubt that one of these men was Dr Nachtigal, and I do not need to say how great our desire was to reach Mbinga by the evening of the same day. The journey to the next place, which was known as Bomote, was about 25 minutes to the rear by a quick walk; subsequently we crossed a valley of extraordinary depth and height that was nonetheless totally waterless, and then (20 minutes after leaving Bonjemal) we came to the place where we must cross the Isuke River [?], which flows north-northwest by south-southeast.

274

HUGO ZÖLLER

Bomote, which could boast barely twenty men capable of bearing arms, is the smallest of all the places with which I have concluded a treaty. King Gando and Chief Bokbato confirmed the news of the arrival of two other Whites, and after I had composed a few pieces of writing, during a small rainshower of about everything under God’s free heaven, I set out with a haste which was unproductive through small towns surrounded by fruitful forests and fertile acres, to tread the road that leads directly to Mbinga. …

Chapter XIII Peter and Freeman, whom we had had to leave behind in Mbinga, came to me with well-fed and grinning faces, asserting – although, mark it, every Negro is a flatterer – that they were joyful at seeing ‘Masser’ again so healthy and well-turnedout. ‘Fine place, fine chop, fine women, fine too much,’ so ran Peter’s judgement on the royal residence at Mbinga. Dr Nachtigal and Mr Schmidt had arrived, together with the black sailors of the Seagull, who had been discharged due to a quarrel over the duties of the Imperial Navy; one might thus imagine the scene which unfolded by the royal residence at Mbinga at the approach of mealtime (‘time for chop’). Soon it began to grow dark and hundreds of fireflies traced their fiery circles through the air, as Dr Nachtigal imposed upon me with the words: You have concluded eight treaties; I would like to know more about these affairs. I handed over to him my pieces of writing and the map of the mountain that I had drawn, and headed out to give provisions to my people. After a time Nachtigal was once more at my side. The Swedish gentlemen, he said, have told me that you had many scruples of conscience about this and that it had become very difficult for you to tread the return path from Buea. In my opinion, you pursued your duties fully and completely. We will march to the mountain tomorrow, in order to validate your treaties according to proper form. His words removed a great weight from my heart. I was at last able to provide these inner voices with the assurance, that every deed that I had done, which I had undertaken only with great nightmares and crises of conscience due to our insufficient strength, had been done rightly. The next night was the first one for two weeks in which I truly and honestly could say that I slept as peacefully and quietly as an innocent child. While Messrs Schmidt, Knutson and Waldau organized the disposition of the denizens of the king’s harem, Dr Nachtigal and your humble servant prepared ourselves in the front rooms of two, not altogether luxurious, night’s quarters. This same man who had earlier soothed my excited nerves through his heavenly reassurances was even now not too tired to question me far into the night about all the distinctive occurrences of the little mission of conquest, and to speak about his own activities with such astonishing openness, that I often interrupted him, believing that I must make him aware of the great confidences he was imparting. I still had far too little knowledge of this intelligent, as well as naturally gracious, excellent man to know that Dr Nachtigal would truly be the last man to say anything that he was not supposed to say.

DER DEUTSCHE KOLONIAL KAMERUN 1885

275

The next morning we five Whites began a repeat journey towards the mountain, albeit without Mbua, who had stayed behind in Mbinga with the rest of my people. Dr Nachtigal mockingly requested me to take command over the black sailors of the Seagull, since I seemed to have acquired the knack of travelling with Blacks so quickly. In Bomote, Bonjemal and Bonganja, the Consul General validated my treaties and had the German banner hoisted; each time the natives begged us not to fire gun salutes, as in the mountains shots are only fired in wartime or in case of a death. Bullikova, whose king lay ill with a fever at the time of our arrival, was chosen by Dr Nachtigal as a base from which to launch two expeditions to Bongandjo and Bonjoko. Although we continued on to Bongandjo and Bonjoko, where once again my treaties were validated and the war banners were raised, Dr Nachtigal did not go with us. Although he truly shirked no toil and strode robustly on before the rest of us with his head uncovered and his coat over his arm, I believe that he became genuinely tired of mountain-climbing. For the first, and the only, time, he began to complain. Now I would like to describe the sort of lodging for the night that we received at Bullikova, in order to show that even a ‘Consul General and Imperial Plenipotentary for the West Coast of Africa’ does not always live in palaces. Five Whites and a similar number of Blacks were housed all together in one room that was 8 paces wide and 16 paces long – a room, that by day was lit only by the opening of the doorway and by the fissures between the bamboo posts of the wall, and by night by a fire that burned more or less exactly in the middle of the room and produced more smoke than light. The floor consisted of stamped-down clay and was full of domestic animals – goats, hens, dogs – that refused to give up their hereditary lodgings by day or by night, and, to our great and righteous anger, used us for a target, in ways that did not entirely suit us. Doors in our sense, that is, doors that hang on hinges, are unknown to the Bakweri Negroes; their own are constructed of braided raffia mounted on poles with movable sliders, that were pushed before the door opening at night and were held in place by crossbars so that no unbidden visitor could come in. The unreliable beams of the sloping roof served as the dwelling-place for countless rats which seemed to be of a particularly long-tailed, lively and combative type. … [All] the beds I saw and used in the mountains were at least a foot too short for Europeans… in Bullikova only two such resting places were to be found, which fell, through the just decision of the lottery, to the two Swedes, so Mr Schmidt and I prepared ourselves two other beds among the packing-cases and boxes, while the Consul General slept on one of the most wonderful hammocks that I have ever seen [which he had thoughtfully brought with him]. …

* * * * * Subsequently, some of the officers of the Bismarck proceeded with plans regarding… further acquisitions, in a welcome continuation of the work that I had begun. The agreement with Bokonange, where perhaps a Woermann factory may be situated, has been signed by the King Nija Tomé and the chiefs Mojahn, Mungumbe and Mosseng. At first the inhabitants of Bokonange were alarmed, because in his time King William of Bimbia was murdered there and because they believed that

276

HUGO ZÖLLER

the evil Chief of Bimbia, who went with Captain Kärcher, must be expecting us there. From Bokonange they went further on to Bonatanga where, on 24 January, a treaty was made with King Mussumbe, and then to Boando, where treaties were concluded with both King Mukumbe below the town and with King Monika above it, on 25 January. In Boando I have twice slept overnight while climbing the Holy Mountain, and have described the place minutely in the seventh chapter of this book. Heading out from Boando, that lies 550 meters above sea level, the men of the Bismarck turned back again to the sea, and crossed two swollen brooks, arranged the signing of a treaty with King Babel of Atom, crossed a brook that is a tributary of the small Mossonge River, and on the evening of the 25th, concluded a protection treaty at the market town of Basse, with the old King Moimbe, the young King Evumbua and the chief Tonde. (It should be mentioned here that the men of the Bismarck undertook a later, second expedition into the mountain and hoisted the German banner in Ekondju, to the southwest of Mapanja, and that Dr Buchner undertook a march from Bakundu into the mountain and concluded treaties with Kata or Ikata, Mussuma and Lisoka.) Questioned by the Captain of the Bismarck about how I had enjoyed my life in the black part of the earth and particularly in the mountains, I gave my opinion by quoting the expression that the most beautiful sight of a trip through Africa has to be the return path to Europe – a judgement with which the Consul General Dr Nachtigal also heartily agrees.12

Editor’s Notes 1. Zöller’s foster-brother, whom he much admired, had married a Swedish girl. 2. Possibly not rush, but the blade of the leaves of the oil palm frond. 3. Probably not the raphia palm, which does not grow much here, but the oil palm. 4. On 5 February, Consul White, who had proclaimed himself Chief Civil Commissioner of Victoria, held a meeting with the members of the Court at Victoria about the movement on the mountain of ‘a German official’. The Court arranged an expedition to counsel the chiefs against ceding their territories, and accepted the services of Rogozinski, whom, on the same day the Vice-Consul gave quasi-legal powers to act on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government (an act later repudiated by the British Government). The Baptist missionary in Victoria, Wright Hay, approved the delegation (apparently Wilson and Johnson), but warned Mr Brew against Rogozinski (see Ardener, S.G. 1968/1996: 42, quoting Thomas Lewis). 5. According to Zöller, ‘The king, a huge man with, astonishingly, six fingers on each hand, assured me that the town of Mimbia was able to muster about 90 armed men, and would therefore seem to be more populous than Mapanja, Lecumbi or Buassa.’ 6. Knutson’s Mosenge. 7. Zöller sometimes got extremely angry when his ‘passionate urge to reach his goals’ was frustrated, and was not afraid to show it. But he also said: ‘I am convinced that cowardice, untrustworthiness and greed are character traits acquired in the battle for life and

DER DEUTSCHE KOLONIAL KAMERUN 1885

277

not deep-rooted and indelible flaws in the Negro nature, just as the Blacks brought up by Whites in, for example, North America, can be called neither cowardly, untrustworthy nor greedy….’, Zöller 1885: Ch.X. 8. The present Chief of Mapanja, Liwonjo, says that he can walk (unencumbered and, of course, wearing shoes) the distance in two hours! It would take most people very much longer. 9. Unlike Zöller! 10. Some parts of Buea are higher than some parts of Soppo, and lower than some others. 11. As we know from the text above, this chief was said once to have had 400 cows, before being reduced to poverty. 12. How different is Zöller’s goodbye to Cameroon from the lyrical farewells of Burton (p. 235) and (p. 163) of Knutson!

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aftenblatdet, Stockholm (series) Ardener, E.W., 1956, Coastal Bantu of the Cameroons, International African Institute, OUP, London. ——— 1959, The Bakweri Elephant Dance, Nigeria, reprinted in Ardener 1996. ——— 1962, Divorce and Fertility in the Cameroons, London: OUP. ——— 1965, Historical Notes on the Scheduled Monuments of West Cameroon, Archives Office, Buea, Government Printer. ——— 1972, see Clarke, John. ——— 1996, Kingdom on Mount Cameroon: Studies in the History of the Cameroon Coast 1500–1970, Oxford and New York: Berghahn Books. Ardener, E.W. (ed. Bruce Connell), 1997, Bakweri (Mokpe) – English Dictionary, R. Köppe Verlag, Cologne. Ardener, E.W. and Ardener, S.G., 1958, Wovea Islanders, Nigeria (59), Lagos, reprinted in Ardener 1969. Ardener, E.W., Ardener, S.G., and Warmington, W.A, 1960, Plantation and Village in the Cameroons, Oxford: OUP. Ardener, S.G., 1968, Eye-witnesses to the Annexation of Cameroon, 1884–1887, Government Press Buea (reprinted 1996, Oxford, for AFAAC). ——— The Bubi of Fernando Po, Family of Man, (part work 1974 –) London: Cavendish. ——— 1975 Perceiving Women, London: Dent. Austen, R.A. and Derrick, J.1999, Middlemen of the Cameroons River; The Duala and their Hinterland, c. 1600–c. 1960, Cambridge: CUP. Autenrieth, F., and Christ, H. 1900, Ins Innerhochland von Kamerun, Stuttgart: Holland & Josenhans. Baginski, H., 1944, ‘The Sixtieth Anniversary of Rogozinski’s Expedition to the Cameroons’, The Geographical Journal, Vol. III: 72–5 Barbot, J., 1732, ‘An abstract of a voyage to New Calabar river, or Rio Real, in the year 1699’, in Churchill, A Collection of Voyages and Travels, London. Bender, C. J., 1921, Der Weltkrieg und die Christlichen Missionen in Kamerun, Oncken: Cassel. Betley, J.A., Podrose Rogosinsksiego Conflikt colonialny Wkamerunie Wlatach 1884–85, ‘Teki Historyszne’, London, 1969–71, nadbitka Z Tomu XVI, ——— 1969, ‘Stefan Szolc Rogozinski and the Anglo-German Rivalry in the Cameroons,’ Historical Society of Nigeria, Vol. V, No. 1. Bohner, H., 1889, Die Hauptaufgaben einer westafrikanischen Kolonialregierung, Basel. ——— 1896, ‘Skizzen aus der Kamerun Mission,’ Evangelisches Missions-Magazin, 372–85. ——— 1902, Die Erziehung des Kamerun-Negers zur Kultur, Basel.

280

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bouchaud, J. 1952, La Côte du Cameroun dans l’histoire et la cartographie: des origines à l’annexation allemand (1994), Douala. Bovallius, Ed, 1888, Ny paglist Alhehander (journal). Buchholz, R., 1876, Land und Leute in West Afrika, Berlin: Habel. Buchner, M. 1887, Kamerun, Leipzig: Duncke & Humbolt. ——— 1914, Aurora Colonialis, Munich: Piloty & Lvehle. Burton, R., 1863, Abeokuta and the Cameroon Mountains, Vol. II, London: Tinsley. Chem-Langhëë, B., 1995, ‘Slavery and Slave-dealing in Cameroon in the Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries,’ Paideuma, 41: 98–272. Chilver, E.M., 1966, Zintgraff’s Explorations in Bamenda, Adamawa and the Benue Lands, 1889– 1892, Buea: National Archives Office. ——— 1999, Zintgraff’s Explorations between the Coast and the Grassfields 1886–1889, eptomised (for Friends of Buea Archives Oxford and Buea). Chilver, E.M., and Röschenthaler, U., 2001, Cameroon’s Tycoon; Max Esser’s Expedition and its Consequences, Oxford and New York: Berghahn Books. Clarke, J., 1848, edited and annotated by E.W. Ardener (1972), Specimens of Dialects, Farnborough: Gregg Press. Comber, T.J., 1879, ‘Explorations inland from Mount Cameroons, and Journey through Congo to Makuta’, Proceedings of Royal Geog. Soc., London. Connell, B., 1997 (see Ardener, E.W.) Dapper, Dr. O., 1668, Naukeurige Beschrijvinge der Afrikanische Gewesten, Amsterdam. Deutsche Geographische Blätter, 1886, Bremen, (series). Deutsche Kolonial Blatt (DKB), (series). Deutches Kolonial Lexicon, (DKL), 1920. Dickson, M., 1960, New Nigerians, London: Dennis Dobson. Dinkelacker, E, 1904, Bonaberi, Basel: Missionsbuchhandlung. Dominik, H., 1901, Kamerun: Sechs Kriegs und Friedensjahre in deutschen Tropen, Berlin: E.S. Mittler. Düben, G. von, 1886, ‘Om svenskrna på Kamerun berget,’ Ymer: 351–63. Duffy, J., 1967, A Question of Slavery, London. Dusén, F., 1894, ‘Om Kamerunomradt,’ Ymer: 65–120. Epale, Simon, 1985, Plantations and Development in Western Cameroon, 1885–1975: A Study in Agrarian Capitalism, New York: Vantage Press. Esser, M., 1898, An die Westküste Afrikas, Berlin: A. Ahn (see Chilver and Röschenthaler 2001). Field, M., 1969, The Commissioner’s Lodge, reprinted as The Prime Minister’s Lodge, Buea Archives Office, (then as The Old Lodge, Buea, 1989 Oxford, for AFAAC). Fitzner, R., 1896, Kolonial-Handbuch, Berlin. Fomin, E.S.D., and Ngoh, V. J., 1998, Slave Settlements in the Banyang Country, 1800–1950, Cameroon: University of Buea Press. Fowler, I. and Zeitlyn, D., 1996, African Crossroads, Oxford and New York: Berghahn Books. G.H.T. Sweden (series). Grenfell, G. 1882, ‘The Cameroon District, W. Africa,’ Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society (10): 586–95. Hawker, G., 1909, The Life of George Grenfell, Congo Missionary and Explorer, Second edition, Religious Tract Society. Ittmann, J., 1953, ‘Volkskundliche und religiöse begriffe im nördlichen Waldland von Kamerun,’ Afrika und Übersee, Beiheft 26, Berlin. Johnston, Sir H., 1908, George Grenfell and the Congo, London: Hutchinson. ——— 1923, The Story of my Life, London: Chatto and Windus. Kale, P., 1967, Political Evolution in the Cameroons, privately printed, Buea.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

281

Kemner, W., 1937, Kamerun dargestellt in Kolonialpolitischer, Historischer, Verkehrstechnischer, Rassenkundlicher und Rohstoffwirtscher Hinsicht, Berlin: Frieheitsverlag, Knutson, K., 1885, ‘Ein bestigning af Kamerunbergets stora pik,’ Ymer. Koelle, S.W, 1854, Polyglotta Africana, Church Miss. Soc., London (Reprinted 1963 with Introduction by P. Hair, Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt Graz. Kolonial-Handbuch, (series). Kolonialzeitung, (newspaper). Lauffer, N. 1898, ‘Ein Auto da Fé,’ in Kamerun der Evanglische Heiden Bote. Leist, K.T.H., 1892, ‘Jahresbericht, betreffend die Entwicklung des Schutzegebietes Kamerun im Jahre 1891,’ DKB, III: 198–208. Lewis, T., 1930, These Seventy Years, London: Carey Press. Lloyd, C., 1949, The Navy and the Slave Trade, New York and London: Longmans Green. Mbum M’ Bafaw,’99, Kumba, Cameroon (series). Matute, D.L., 1988, The Socio-Cultural Legacies of the Bakweri of Cameroon. Yaounde: CEPER. ——— 1990, Facing Mount Fako; an Ethnographic Study of the Bakweri in Cameroon, Milwaukee, USA: Omni Press. Miers, S., and Kopytoff, I. (eds), 1977, Slavery in Africa, Madison, USA: University of Wisconsin Press. Missionary Herald, UK (series) Molino, A. Martin del, c. 1989, Los Bubi; Ritos y Creencias, Malabo: Centro Cultural Hispano-Guineano. Molua, H.N., 1985, ‘The Bakweri Land Problem 1884–1961: a Case Study,’ M.A. thesis, University of Ibadan. Monod, T.H., 1928, L’Industrie des Pêches au Cameroun, Paris. Mosima, F., n.d., ‘The Bakweri Land Problem, 1884–1960,’ Mimeo, 32pp., University of Yaounde. Njeuma, M., (ed.), 1989, Introduction to the History of Cameroon in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Macmillan: London and Basingstoke. Nya Vderlden, Minneapolis (series). Petermann’s Mitteilungen aus Justus Perthes Geographischen Anstalt, (PGM), series. Plehn, A., 1898, Die Kamerun Küste, Berlin. Pouncette, N., 1989, Ett Afrikanskt äventyr, En berattelse fran Afrika, Koomanitbolaget Kumla tryckeri, Kumla, Sweden. Puttkamer, J. von, 1912, Gouvernsjahre in Kamerun, Berlin: Georg Stilke. René, C., 1905, Kamerun und die deutsche Tschadsee-Eisenbahn, Berlin. Rogozinski, E., Scholtz-, 1884, ‘Reisen im Kamerun-Gebiet,’ in PGM 30: 132–9. Rudin, H., English edition 1938, Germans in the Cameroons, London: Cape. Saker, E., 1908; reprint 1929, Alfred Saker, London: Carey Press. Schnee, H., 1920, Deutsche Kolonial Lexikon, Leipzig: Quelle und Meyer. Schwarz, B., 1886, Kamerun: Reise in der Hinterlande der Kolonie, Leipzig: Paul Frohberg. Seidel, A. von, 1906, ‘Das Bakwerivolk in Kamerun,’ (pp.149–210) in Deutsche-Kamerun, Berlin. Seitz, T., 1927, Die Governeursjahre in Kamerun, Vol. II of, Kahlsruhe: Mueller. Sjöstedt, Y., 1897, ‘Die Saügetiere des nordwestlicke Kamerungebietes,’ MDS 10 (1). Stoecker, H. (ed.), 1960, 1968, Kamerun unter deutsche Kolonialherrschaft, Berlin: Rütter and Loening. Swenska Dagbladet, Sweden (series). Tessmann, G., 1923, Die Bubi auf Fernando Po. Thomson, Q., 1882, ‘A Native Court or Palaver at Victoria, West Africa’, 1 December, London, Missionary Herald.

282

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Thomson, J.E.H. (ed.), 1881, Memoir of George Thomson, Edinburgh: Andrew Elliot. Waldau (Valdau), G., 1885, ‘En färd till landet norr om Kamerunberget,’ Ymer: 271–301. ——— 1885, ‘Om Ba-kwiley-folket,’ Ymer: 163–77. ——— 1886, ‘Eine Reise in das Gebiet nördlich vom Kamerungesbirge,’ D. geog. Blätter, Bd. 9, 30–48, 120–41 ——— 1887, ‘Nya färder i landet norr om Kamerunberget,’ Ymer: 219–30. ——— 1888, ‘Skildingar frän Kamerun,’ I, Ymer: 138–68. ——— 1889, ‘Skildingar frän Kamerun,’ II, Ymer: 97–112. ——— 1890, ‘Upptäckten af Soden-sjön,’ Ymer: 135–43. ——— 1890, ‘Schilderungen aus Kamerun,’ Deutsche Kolonialzeitung, III: 108–9, 123–6, 146–9, 159–61, 171–3, 194–5, map. ——— 1892, ‘Resa till Ngolo-landet,’ Ymer: 113–52. ——— 1892, ‘Resa frå Ndian faktori genom Ngolo, norra Bakundu och öfver Rumbieberget till Bonge faktori,’ Ymer: 132–52. Warnier, J-P., 1995, ‘Slave-Trading without Slave-raiding in Cameroon,’ Paideuma, 41: 252–72. Wästberg, P., 1987, Bergets Kalla, Stockholm: Wahlström and Widstrand. Whitford, J., 1887, Trading Life in Western and Central Africa, Liverpool: ‘Porcupine’ Office. Wirz, A, 1972, Von Sklavenhandel zum Kolonialen Handel… in Kamerun von 1914, Zurich and Hamburg: Atlantis. Woermann, A., 1878–9, 1880–1,‘Über Tauschhandel in Afrika,’ Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft in Hamburg, pp. 58–71, 29–43. Wohltmann, F., 1897, Der Plantagenbau Kamerun und seiner Zukunft, Berlin. Wright, A.K. (ed.), 1958, Victoria Southern Cameroons, 1858–1958, Basel Mission Bookshop, for Victoria Centenary Committee. Ymer, Sweden (series). Zintgraff, E., 1895, Nord-Kamerun, Berlin: Gebrüder Poetel. Zöller, H., 1885, Forschungsreisen in der deutsche Kolonie Kamerun, Berlin: Spefmann. ——— 1930, Als Journalist und Forscher in Deutschlands grosser Kolonialzeit, Leipzig: Koehler and Amelang. NB. For other bibliographical references to the end of the nineteenth century in western Cameroun forest area, a useful source is Chilver and Röschenthaler 2001, Fowler and Zeitlyn 1996, and Ardener, E.W. 1996 – all in the same series as this text.

INDEX

A adultery, 109, 112, 129, 260 Akva Jaffe, 22, 70, 80 Akwa, Aqua, Chief at Douala, 141–42 Alcoholic drinks, 94 128, 151–52, 207, 217, 230, 231, 251, 260, 233, 321; see also palm wine Allen, Capt., 80, 95, 98 Allen, George, 98, 151, 158 n9 altar, stone, 120, 229 Ambas, Bay Trading Co., 47, 141, 153 Ambas, Island, 145, 249 Ambos, Amboses, 72, 74, 76 amulet, fetisch, charm, 102, 225 Anderson, Charles, 23 Angerer, Mr, 59–60 annexation, German treaties, 47–54 passim, 167–88 passim, 245–277 Antonio, Don and wife, 127, 130 ape, chimpanzee, 42, 47, 207, 209 n9, Archibong, Arsibong, 22, 94 Ardener, S.G., xi, xiii, 78 n3, 124 n10 & 11,167, 240 notes, 241 Ardener, Edwin, xi, xii, xiii, 14–6, 30 n5, 38 n4, 54 n1 & 4, 68 n3, 78 n3, 123 notes, 124 n10, 133 n2 & 3, 143 n2 & 4, 157 n1, 164 n3, 164 n5, 168, 172 195, 211, 209, 221 n3, 235 n6, 239, 240 n4, 279 Attokkoro, Chief of Oron, xiv, 17–7, 70, 75, 78 n2, 127–30, 137 auction of plantations, 175, 177–78, 185, 191 Austen, R. A., 133 n1, 279 Autenrieth, Missionary, 150, 279 B Babinga, 212–13 Baduma, Maduma, 61 Bafarmani, 16, 61–2, 73–4, 128 Bafia, 56, 213 Bafo, (Bavo, Baffo, Bafaw), 73, 75, 77, 78 n5, 88, see also Batom Bafut, 140–41 Baginski, H., 241–42, 279 Baivo, Bavo, 218 Baji, Baije, Baiji, Baidje, Badje, 58, 61, 75, 77, 80, 85, 214 Bakingili 31, 219 Bakolle, see Colle Bakundu, 109, 197, 213, 216 Bakundu-ba-Baka (Bakka), 57, 214, 216

Bakundu-ba-Nambele, 60, 213, 215, 217, 242 Bakweri (Vakpe) ethnography, 101–123, 197–209; language, 14–5, 20 notes Balong, 16, 88, 220 n1 Balundu, 58, 70, 71, 76, 79, 107, 109, 169, 216–20 Balundu ba Boa, 79, 80 Bamusso, Bamoso, 22, 58–9 Bandeng, 140 Bange, 218 Banoko, Banokko 81 Barbot, J. 129 Barombi ba Kota (Kotta, Bacotta), 22, 55–6, 213 Barombi villages, 22, 76 Barombi-ba-Mbo (Mbu), 55, 57–9, 215 Basse, Mbase, 49, 169, 176–188 passim Basso, 51, 219 Batan, 61 Batanga, 119, 214, slave, 108ff Batika, Bateka ba Oron, ba Oinda 72–7, 80–2, 87, 93–4, 119, 122, 141, 169; see also Oron Bateka-be-Ende, 22, Batoki, Batoke, 33, 51–3, 58, 64, 72, 117, 122, 154ff, 169, 172, 176, 183, 185, 187, 219 Batom, 76, 78 n5, 119 Bavo, 61 bead, trade 24, 42, 71, 82, 90–1, 239 bead, worn, 122, 198–99, 225 beard, 227, 269, false, 262 Beckley of Bonjongo and Mamfe, 191 Beecroft, Consul, 225 Befongo, chief of Bibundi, 92, 103, 107, 120–1, 141, 157, 161 Belgians, 35, 44 Bell, Manga, 16 Bender, Rev., C. J., 191 Bentley, H., 146 Berghahn, Marion, xiii Betikka, 219; see Batika Betley, J.H., 243 n1, 279 Bevongo in Batoki, 172 Biafra, 75ff Bibundi, 36, 52, 59, 70, 74, 79, 80, 106, 119, 120, 176, 219; see also Befongo Bibundi plantation 139, 153, 176, 178ff, 188 Bimbia, Isubu, 3, 11, 15–6, 38, 45, 47, 55, 81, 130, 224, 231, 239, 252, 269, 271 Bioki (Itoki) 11, 22, Bjork, Capt. Anders, 95, 149

284

INDEX

Black Will, 225 blacksmith, 75–6, 116 see also iron blood brother, 103 Boa, 57, 79–80, 216 Boana (Woana), 206 Boando, (Boanda, Gbando), 15,31, 49, 58, 90, 112, 169, 207, 216, 219, 242, 276 Bohner, Rev H., 137, 142, 147, 221 Bokonange, 275 Bokoko (Wokoko), 219 Bokwea, Bokwai (Wokpae), 43, 56, 269 Bokwango (Wokpaongo), 164 Bolifamba (Wolifamba), 15 Bomana, 31, 33, 36, 92, 172–73, 178–88, 219 Bomboko (Womboko), xii, xiv, 9, 14–6, 20 n1, 56, 58, 70–2, 88–91, 93, 97, 101–23, 141, 197, 209, 212–13, 218 Bomote, 49 273–75 Bonatanga (Wonyamatanga), 49, 51, 53, 70, 131, 169–71, 176, 178–88 passim, 275, 269, 272 broom, 206, 229, 235 n3, Bongala, 247, 249, 261 Bongandjo (Bondongo), 269–72, 275 Bonjarri, 22, 85 Bonjemal, 275 Bonjoko, 49, 275 Bonjongo (Wonjongo), xiv, 2, 15, 55, 60, 67 n2, 172–73, 173 n3, 191, 205, 206, 207, 238, 262 Bosama, 91–2 Bossumbu, Bosumbo, 226–27, 233, 235 Bota, Bovia (Wovea), 15, 49, 72–3, 78 n3, 241–43, 248 Bouchaud, J., 16, 280 Bovallius, Ed., 9, 12, 80, 82–87 passim, 97, 139, 149, 153, 280 Brew, Samuel William, 16, 18, 70, 131, 146, 153–55, 157 n1, 268, 276 n4 bridewealth, 110–11, 118, 200, 203, 235 n7, Broden, Carl, xiii Brookmount, Victoria, 239 Bubi, (Bube, Boobee) 72–3, 78 n3 Buchholtz, R., 24, 238, 280 Buchner, Capt, M., 276, 280 Buea (Bwea, Gbea), xi, xiv, 12, 14–5, 20, 27, 34–7, 48, 54 n4, 65, 102, 143 n2 & 4, 160–3, 164 notes, 162, 168, 181, 183 n5, 184, 190, 200, 209, 233, 245–277 passim Bullokova (Wolikova), 49, 122, 272–75, 223–235 Burnley, family, xi, xiii, 27, 31, Burton, Sir Richard, 6, 24, 195, 223–35, 239, 277 n12, 280 Bwassa, Buassa, Bwasse, 115, 169, 172–188 passim, 253, 256–66 Bwenga (Mbinga, Gbenga), 43, 44, 47–49, 56, 202, 267ff, 273 C Calabar, 12, 76, 78 n2, 80–2, 89, 93, 156, 180–81, 214–20, 225 Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), 10, 167 camnet 10 Canary Islands, 189; Las Palmas, 7, 156; Tenerife, 177, 190–91 cannibalism, 83 n9, 119, 261

carvings, sculpture, 87, 116, 214, 226 cattle, 55, 83, 1103, 116, 120, 200, 207, 215, 218, 273, 277 n11 cave, 163, 238 census, (1883) 151, (1896) 11, 19 n5, (1953) 20 n10 Chem-Langhëë, B., 133 n1, 280 childbirth, 57, 110, 118, 214 Chilver, E.M., xiii, 67 notes, 70, 143 n3, 192 notes, 220 n1, 221 n1, 279 Christian, Mr, 177–78 circumcision, 202 Clarkson, Thomas, 132 coffee, wild, 249 Cohen, Gaynor, xiii coin, 74, 153 Colle, Bakolle 70, 74, 76, 80, 128 collecting (flora and fauna), 31, 38, 42, 49, 149, 247 Carlmark, Capt. G.B., 149 Collister, Jenny, xiii Comber, T.J., 25, 31, 105–6, 161, 213, 218, 280 comey, coomee, dash, tax, fees, 12, 13, 76, 128, 55–67 passim, 79–99 passim Connell, Bruce, 15, 20 n1, 2 & 13, 30 n5, 280 contractados, 135 ff Cooper, Richard, (Kufela Njeuma Ngomba, “Poor Fellow”), 228, 231–32, 240 n4 copper mine, Swedish, 129 Cross River, 189 Cryber, Paul, 190 Custodian of Enemy Property, 17, 175, 182ff, 190 D dance (ball) 28, 94, 123, 130, 153, 206–7, 213–14 Dapper, Dr O., 16, 74–7, 129, 280 dashes, see comee death, 95, 102, 120; sentence of, 97, see also funeral Debanda, 269 debt, debtors, 1 n6, 80, 90, 93–4, 114, 129, 204, 225, 231, 233 Debundsha, Debundscha, 12, 95, 219 Debundscha plantation, 11, 148, 189, 190ff, 192 n4, 193 n5 Derrick, J, 133 n1, 279 Deutsche Westafrikanische Handelsgesellschaft, 176, 181 Mokase, Mokasse, 65, 102, 106, 116, 120–1, 123 n1, 162–63, 169, 207 Dievo, 56, 213 Dickson, M., 164 n2, 280 divorce, 209 n6 doctor, physician, priest, see medicine, witchcraft dogs, 28, 31, 200, 240, Hector (Hektor), 34–5, 38, 212 Dominik, H., 5, 162, 280 donkey, 200, 240 Douala (Cameroon), 11, 16, 30 n4, 45 n2, 133 n3, 143, 158, 190–91, 238, 250, 252 dracena, 58, 82, 98 dress, 155, Cameroonian , 83, 105, 114, 121–5 passim, 192,198, 205–6, 227, 269, Burton’s, 232, Swedes’, 11, 269, Zöller’s, 48, 83, 151, Victorian’s, 250 drums, 81, 118–9, 130, 206, 209 n8, 213 war, 231, 260, 262 drunkeness, 128, 142, 151, 155, see also alcohol Dualla, King of Oron (Batteka ba Oinda), 12, 80–4

INDEX

Düben, Prof. G. von, 6, 25, 30 n2; Düben Falls, 82, 87 ducks, 200, 215, 218 Duffy, J., 133 n1, 280 Dusén, Prof. F, 6, 18, 20 n16, 51, 98, 149, 176, 183ff E earplugs, 198, 209 n4, ebony, blackheart, 58, 77, 92, 128 Edgerly, Rose, of Victoria, 157 n3 Edgerly, Samuel Eyamba, of Victoria, 153 Efange, Chief Peter, xi, xiv, 15 Efasemote, (Efas’a Moto), 68 n13, 208, 235 Efesoa, Chief of Bonjongo, xiv, 173 n3 Egbo, 70, 76 Ekalé, 103, 120, 193 n8, 213–14 Ekoi, Ekoj, 70, 71 Ekona, Ekona Mbenge56, 68 n13 Ekondo Titi, (Ekundu-Ettititti, Ekundu-Ndene), 22, 100, 154 n8, 169, 176–188 passim. Ekonjo, Ekunjo, 43, 44, 49, 172, 276 Ekumbe Bonji (Ekumba Bondschi), 22, 57, 83–4, 99 Ekumbe Liongo (Ekumba Lyonga), xiv, 12, 22, 75, 83, 84, Ekumbe Mofako, 99, Ekumbenene (Ekumba Ndene), 22, 83, 84 Ekumbe, Ekumbi, 61, 77, 98, 99 n8, 109 elephants, 29, 31, 42, 44, 57, 59, 62ff, 77, 103, 214, 248, dwarf, 44 Elikki, 59, 73 Elundu, 51–2, 169, 178–188 passim Endeley, Chief Gervase, 68 n13 English, Mr, 19 n4, 141 Epale, Simon, 190, 280 Erikson, Axel, 4 Erikson, Jacob, 3, 23 eruption, lava, 68 n13, 74, 102, 234 Esser, Max, xiii, 67 n8 & 9, 189, 190, 192 n4 Ethnographic Museum, Krakow, 243 Etinde (Small Cameroon Peak), 47, 62ff, 239, 242, 247 Etome, Etomi, 49, 51, 53, 170–71, 176–188 passim, 219 Evans, F., 191 eye-brows, plucked, 226–27 eye-lashes, plucked, 198, 226, 227 F Fakko Pflantzungsgesellschaft (Victoria and Bibundi plantations), 178, 186 Fako, Cameroon Mountain Peak (Mongo ma Lova), xii, 65ff, 150,163, 223–35, crater, 66, 102, 233, future of, 160, fence, pallisade, 65, 87, 106, 199, 209 n5, 227–28, 247, 249 Fernando Po, (see also Bubi), 16, 73,81,93,149, 153, 190, 224–25, 237, 243 n4 Field, Margaret, xv, 164, 280 fingers, six, 6, 209 n7, 205, 276 n5 fish, fishing, 102, 119–20, 156, 202, 214–19, 251, 263, 266, 272, 276 Fitzner, R., 11, 19 n5, 280 flag, English, 233, 254, 256, 267, 272, German, 205–51, 263, 266, 272, 276, slaver’s, 129, Swedish, 11, 48, 50, 167, 220, 247

285

flogging, of witch, 89, of Kru, 136, for theft, 113, 204 flood, 85, 87–8, 199 Foe, 22, 58, 218 Fomin, E.S.D., 16, 133 n1, 280 Foncha, Dr J. N., 68 n13 Fosouo, Rev P, 30 n4 Fowler, Ian, xii, xiii, 280 Frances, Rosemary, xiii Freeman the Kru, 251ff Fuller, Rev. Joseph J., 143 n1 funeral, 56, 115, 121, 205, 207, 212, 273, see mourning furniture, 27, 116, 198–99, 215, 217–18, 229 furs, skins, 4, 7, 26, 31, 41, 44, 149 G German annexation, 5, 242, 247ff, 250, 245–277 passim patriotism, 245–277 passim, German/Douala war, 242 Glahn, Assessor, 181 Gleim, Assessor, 53 Glückstadt, 139 GNK, Gesellschaft Nord-West Kamerun, 7, 189, 192 n2 God, 26, see also Lova, see also Bakweri ethnography gold, 77 Gollmer, C. H., 147, 157 n5 Grenfell, George, 24, 146–47, 157 n3, 161, 280 gun, 79, 85, 91, 110, 138, 160, repeating, rifle, 26, 29, 36–7, 55, 137, 205–6, 211, 220, 259, 268, 270, elephant, 248, revolver, 48, 55, 80, 91, 142, 265 Gustaffson (Gustavson) J.A., 11, 24, 26, 29, 35, 41,161, 168, 171–72, 191, 220, 247–78, 250, H Haddison of Victoria, 191 hair styles, 121, 197–8 Hawker, George, 146, 280 Heilborn, Consul Otto, 17, 192 Held, of Woermann’s, 39, 41 Herbert, Capt., 153 Herbst, Company Director, 181 Hewett, Consul, 242 Hoesch, Herman, 192 n4, 193 n5, Victor, 193 n5 Holt, John & Co., 149, 151 honey, 3, 36, 72 horn, ivory, 91, 227 house styles, 5, 217, 218, grass, 26, hunters’ 28, Bakweri 44, 115, 198, 229, Bakundu, 57, 79, 87, 215, 216 Hühner, Lt., 140 I Idenau plantation, 178 Ikasse, 22 Ikata, 276 Ikilliwindi (Ekkelivindi), 17, 61 Ikongolo, chief of Bimbia, 269 Iloani (see also Oron), 70, 85, 87 inheritance, 103, 122 iron, 74, 76 iron pot 38, see also blacksmith Isangele (Isangilli), 22, 70, 76 Isongo plantation, 190–91 Isubu, see Bimbia Itoki, 11, 22, 74, 80 Ittman, Rev. J., 123 n3, 280 ivory, tusks, 44, 61, 75–6, 77, 91, 119, 128, 141, 227, 248

286

INDEX

J Jack Mosseka of Mapanja, 70, 168–69, 172 Janikowski, Leopold, 150, 241–42, 245, 267 Jantzen & Thormählen, 6, 59, 139, 151, 179 Johansson, Klas, 5 Johnson, Thomas, of Victoria, 225, 228, 233, 240, 250 Johnston, Sir Harry, 32, 146, 157 n3, 158 n7, 280 Jolly, Captain, 156–57 Junger, Dr, 149 Jüürs, 17 K Kale, Paul M., xi, 280 Kamta, Rev Isaac, 30 n4 Karcher, Capt., 49, 50, 52, 169, 177, 242, 275 Kemner, W., 5, 193 n5, 281 King, R.W. & Co, 151, 153 KLPG, Kamerun Land und Plantagen Gesellschaft, 11 Knutson, Amanda, 3, 7, 8 Knutson, Bertil, xii, 3, 7, 8, 10, 168 Knutson, Knut , xii, xiii, 3–8, 9–20, memoir, 23–164, land acquisitions, 44–54, 167–73, 245–77 passim, law cases, 175–93, linguistic ability xiii, 9, 88, 91, 101, 249 Kolthoff, Gustaf, 5 Kopytoff, I., 133 n1, 281 Krabbes, Dr., 51, 52–3, 97–8, 172, 183ff Kru, Krumen, (contractados), xiv, 82, 87, 89, 135, 136, 156, 226, 227, 242 Kuke, Kooke, Kookee, 77, 85, 218 Kumba, 154 Kumbe, Kumbi, 22, 82–3, 95, 107 Kuva, a Likenye (Kova, Cuva, Kuba), King, 12, 14, 36–8, 38 n4, 48, 163 KVH (Knutson, Waldau and Heilborns Handelssaktienbolag), 4, 7, 11, 80, 87, 176ff, 181 L land auction, 175–77, Ordinance, Land Register (‘Ground Book’), 51, 175, 183–84, values, compensation, 177–78, 180ff, treaties, 10, 17, 49, 79ff, 84–7, 245ff Lander, Mr, of Victoria, 153 Lauffer, Rev., N., 221 n1, 281 League of Nations, xv n5, 175, 186 Leist, Assessor K.T.H., 45, 52–3, 140, 143 n1, 281 leopard, 31, 77, 103 Letongo of Mapanja, 110, 114–15, 205 Letongo, of Buea, 12, 48, 54 n4, 173 n1, 256–63, 269 Levin, Captain Gustav, 33–6 Lewis, T., 45 n2, 67 n2, 98 n2, 146, 157 n2, 240, 242, 276 n4, 281 libation, 207, 229 liemba, see witchcraft liengu, yengo, jengu, dyengo, 103ff, 111ff, 123 n2 & 3, 204, 234 Likombe, Lecombe, Likumbe, 38, 44, 168, 206, 250, 253–56, 267 Lilley, Mr, 234 Limbe, see Victoria Lindow, KVH agent, 142, 149 Linnel & Co. 11, 189, 192 n4 Linnel, G., 12,17, 87–9, 97, 149, 189, 193 n5

Lissoka, 56, 60, 211, 269, 273, 276 Liwonjo, Chief Kongo of Mapanja, xiv, xv, 10, 18, 19 n2, 277 n8 Liwonjo, Knutson, 18 Lobe, Love, 5, 11–2, 14, 58, 86, 154 Löfdahl, A., 149 Lova (Lobe, Loba, God), 101, 123 n1, 162, 208 love, affection, 14, 77, 105–6, 110, 115, 118, 122, 132, 140, 41, 145, 148, 156, 247 Lucas, Brothers of Bristol, 153 Lungstedt, Olof, 65–6 M Mabro, Judy, xiii Malabo, see Fernando Po Malafa, Penuel, xii Malimba, 22, 76, 81 Malmström, Johan, xiii, 195 Malombi, Malumbe, 55, 82, 106 Mambanda, 60–1 Manenguba, 76 mangrove, 58, 82, Mann, Gustav, 63, 223–35 passim Mann’s Spring, 25ff, 31, 65, 160, 200, 228, 234, 238, 248, 253 Manyemen, 189 Mapanja, xii–22 passim, (1861–2), 223–35, (1871–89), 237–210, (1883–90), 23–54, 101–24, 167–210, contracts, 44, 169, 172 marriage, 110ff, of slave, 108–9 Massake, 74 Masuma, Massuma, 56, 276 Matute, Dan Lyonga, xi, 10, 14–5, 30 n5, 68 n13, 123 notes, 164 n2, 209 n9, 221 n3 Mbase, Mbasse, Basse, Bassa, 34, 37, 49, 169–70, 171, 176, 183, 185, 187, 207, 219, 276 Mboe, the Masterthief, 93 Mbonge, Bonge, 6, 7, 12, 58, 80, 83–9, 107, 109, 139, 154, 282 Mbua Moseka (Mosekao) of Mapanja, xiv, 10–13, 219 n7, 26, 39, 41, 55, 70, 101, 111, 161, 168, 246–77 passim, Mbua’s mother, 10, 39, 42, 105 McIntyre, Robert & Carrie, xiii medicine, healing, 116–17 medicineman, doctor, priest, see also witchman, 208, 250, 271 Meme River, 22, 56, 58, 70, 77, 80, 82, 177, 216, 218 Merrick, Rev. Joseph, 30 n4, 224, 235 n1 Mesange, 56 Miers, S., 133 n1, 281 Mimbia, Membea, 29, 253, 256 missions, missionaries, 13, 45 n2, 48, 60, 69, 105, 135, 132, 145ff, 159ff, 213–14, 240, 242, 250, 276 n5 Moko, Mocos, 11, 73 Moeta, 56, 212 Mokasse, 65, 102, 106, 116, 120, 123 n1, 162–3, 169, 207 Moki, Moky, Mocki, 19 n2, 169, 171–2 Mokonje, 61 Mokpe, see Bakweri language, 14–5, 20 notes Mokunda, Mukunda, 55, 74, 206, 242 Mokundange, 17, 49, 74, 154, 176 Molyko Estate, 191 Molino, A. Martin del, 78 n3, 281

INDEX

Mosenje (Mosenge), Chief of Mapanja, and Molla, his son, 26–7, 47, 55, 63ff, 70, 112, 116, 168–69, 173 n3, 178, 191, 250–51, 256 Mondole (Mondoleh) Island, 145, 150, 241 Money, priest of Bimbia, 271 Monod, T. H., 133 n3 Moore, Fiona, xiii Mosimbe, Sam, 171 Mottutue, chief of Sanje, 12, 97 mourning, 121, 203, 273; see funeral Mukonje, 73 Mundame, 60, 189 Mundjua, beauty of Bonjongo, 247, 267 Mungo River, 16, 38, 42, 56, 59, 62, 76. 60, 202, 241 Musonge, Peter, 164 n5 Mussakka, King of Ekumba Liongo (Lyongo), xiv, 12, 57, 70–88 passim, aunt of, 85 N Nachtigal, Dr Gustav, 23, 47–9, 245–46, 252, 254, 256, 262–76 passim Ndian, N’dean, 6, 11, 22, 119 Ndian River, 22, 70, 75 Ndibe, a Ekoa of Bonjongo, 12–13, 55–6, 212–13 Nehber, Heinrich, 17, 140, 151, 156, 161 Newman, Las, 30 n4 Ngoh, V. J, 16, 133 n1 Ngolle of Victoria, 82 Ngolo (Batanga), 6, 119 Nicholl Island, 153 Njeka, (Gecka) of Bwenga, xiv, 12, 43, 48, 70–4, 114, 267, 269ff Njeme, N’geme, 155 Njeuma, Martin Z., 54 n1, 164 n5, 281 Njeuma, Dorothy, 164 n5 Njola rattle, 104 Nyangbé, 57, 109, 214 Nyassoso, 16 O Odobob, 70–1, 76, 81, 93–141, Oechelhaüsen, 52, 178, 190–91 Oertzen, von, 189, 192 n4 Ohlson, Richard, 11, 24, 35, 37, 41–2, 161, 191, 247 Ombe, 218 Onge, (Oonge, Oange) River, 58, 77, 218 Onitscha, 70, 71 Oron, see also Iloani and Isangeli, 22, 70–2 Ovase, 64, 72, 102–3, 123 n1, 16222, 207ff Ovesen, Jan, xii P paintings, wall, 79, 81, 87, mask, 111 palm, kernels, 79, 87–8, 202, oil, 59, 79ff, 87, 202, 228–29, 249, pandanus, 58, raffia, 54, 58, 82, wine, 33, 59, 104, 112, 212, 230, 249, 256 parrots, 56, 152, 214 Peacock, Joan, xiii Pedersen, Ena, xiii pen, fear of, 255, 272 Peter, the Kru, 251ff Petermann, 221 n2, 242, 281 Petterssen, Carl, 172

287

Petterssen, Fridolf, 5 pig, 38, 47, 199 pigeon, 32 Pinnock, Rev., 227–28, 235 n2, 237, 240 n1 plantations, 125–33 passim, 199, 227, 249, auction, 175–77 Plehn, Dr Albert, 150, 281 poison, 138–9, 208, see also sasswood polygyny, 115, 202, 269 Portuguese, 75, 125ff pot, clay, 57, 64, 71.,76, 199, 206, 215, iron, 38 Pouncette, Carl J., 5, 9, 12, 14, Nils, 5, 281 Preuss, Dr, 8 n1, 150 priest, see medicineman Prittiwitz, Lt., 59–60 Privy Council, London, 181–88 passim Puttkamer, J. von, 45, 505, 52–3, 59, 135, 140–41, 151, 160, 164 n4, 176, 183 Q Queens of Bwenga, 269 R reincarnation, 207 religion, see God, and 101–23 passim, 197–207 passim René, Consul Carl, 150 Richardson, Rev. Calvin J., 60, 67 n8 & 11, 143 n3, 193 n5, 192 n4, Mrs Richardson, 60 Rider & Son, 151 Rikssmuseets Zoologiska Afdelung, 7 Rio-del-Rey, 11, 22, 51, 74, 76, 79, 176–77, 242, slave trade, 125–133 Rogozinski, Stephan Scholtz, 5, 150, 177, 195, 215, 241–45, 253, 262, 266, 272, 276 n4 Röschenthaler, Ute, xiii, 67 n8 & 11, 143 n3, 192 n4, 193 n5, 280 rubber vine, trade, 3, 7, 37, 39ff, 45, 56, 59, 73, 79, 87–9, 92, 119, 160, 176, 178, 248–49 Rudati, ‘Gardener’, 189 Rudin, H., 54 n1, Rumpi, Rumbi, Rumby Mountains, 6, 55, 209, 216, 218, 220–21 S Saker, Alfred, 145, 157 n1, 223–35 passim, 238 Saker, Mrs. Bessie, neé Thomson, 76 n2, 235 Saker, Emily, 281 Salt, 70, 87, 137, 139, 199–200, 224–25 Sam, 55, 171 Sameli of Mapanja 70 Samson, head Kruman, 89, 90, 122, 138 Samuelson (‘Sambo’) 65–6 Sanje, Sangi, Sanji, 12, 82, 171–2, 177, burnt down, 97ff sasswood (water) ordeal, 56, 104, 208 Schmidt, Eduard, 8, 11, 47, 150–51, 178, 242, 261, 274 Schneider, Rev. Paul, 221 n1 Scholl, Carl, 158 n10 school, 92, 105, 146, 214, 239, 240 n5 Schwartz, Dr Bernard, 17, 59, 60–62, 67 n6 & 11, 150 Seidel, A. von, 150, 281 Seitz, T., 5, 281 Silvey, Rev. Samuel, 45 n2 Sjöstedt, Dr Y., 32, 38 n2, 96, 99 n11, 149 281

288

INDEX

skin colour, complexion, 197, 227, 256, albino, 256 slander, 114 slave, 57, 82–5, 107ff, 121, 214–15, see also Yellow Duke slavery, 16, 61, 74–5, 81, 84, 92, 108ff, 119, 125–33, 202, 214, suppression 129, 131 smallpox, 56 Smith, William, 146 snake, 42, 59 snow, 64 Soden, Governor von, 12, 54 n5, 62, 87, 94, 140, 152, 172, 220 Soppo, Sofo, Soffo, 15, 20 n11, 55, 191, 200, 202, 214, 266, 269, 272 Steane, Samuel, 140, 157 n1 Stehr, Arnold, 47, 153, 246–47, 267–68 Steiglitz, J. von, 123 n7 Stetten, Major v., 142, 162 Stolpe, Dr H., 69 Stoecker, H., 54 n1 storm, 63, 66, 87, 95 sugar cane, 249 Swedish nationalism, 5, 11, 50, 52, 202, 216, 247 sword, sabres, 73, 76–7, 79, 83, 114, 203, 234, 254, 256, 262, 270 T tattooing, 128, 197, 226–27 teeth, filed, 75, 119 Tessman, Gunter, 78 n3, 281 Teusz, at Man-o-War Bay, 153 theft, thieves, 35, 92–3, 103, 109, 112, 141, 204 Theorin, Fritz, 149 Thomson, J.E.H., 195, 281 Thomson, George, 6, 123 n6, 195, 200, 237–40, 250 Thomson, Quintin, 30 n3, 55, 57, 67 n2 & 3, 146, 161, 173, 214, 238, 240, 281 Tiko, 55 tobacco, 239, 242 Tomczek (Tomscek), Klemens, 19 n5, 57, 215, 221 n2, 241–42 trade goods, trading practices, 13, 55, 79ff, 87, 202, 216, 239, 270 Trotter, Capt., 151 U UN Mandate, 164 n5, 175, 180 V Vakpe (see Bakweri) vengeance, 17, 113, 162, 216, 218, 267 Vernoll, James, 145 Victoria (Limbe), 18, 145–46, 209, 235, 242, 245, 250; Court, 49, 237, 242, 251, 255, 268–69, 272, 276 n4; ‘Victoria gentlemen’, 18, 39, 49, 246ff; market, 106, 224 n 1 & 2, 225, 232, 247 Victoria and Molyko Estates, 181 Voss, Capt. Johanes, 151 W Wadström, K.B., 131–32 Waldau (Valdau) George, xii, xiii, 3–20 passim, 23–99 passim, 112, 148–49, 155, 161, 167–93, writings, 195–221

Waldau, Mrs, 12, 148, 190 WAPV, 180 Warnier, J-P., 133 n1, 282 Wästberg, Per, xii, xv n4, 3, 7, 8 n2 water, water shortage, 31, 36, 65–6, 207, 212, 223, 226–27, 238, 249 weapons, dagger, 235, spear, 76, 203, see also gun wedding, 111, 201–2 Weiler, Justo, 151, 153 West African Cocoa Farming Co., Bibundi, 176 Whitford, J., 237, 282 Whyte, Vice-Consul H., 242, 276 n4 Wilberforce, Sir W., 132 William Junior, of Bimbia, 16, 130 William, King of Bimbia, 55, 121, 130, 145, 275 Williams, Mrs Collins, 16, 132 Wilson, of Victoria, 106, 250, 276 n4 Wirz, A., 133 n1, 282 Wissman, Lt., 23 witch, 10, 56–7, 88, 89, witchcraft, 12, 37, 56, 61, 79, 88–90, 97, 102ff, 119, 129, 208, 214, 249, 255, witchman, 12, 37, 88–90, 96–7, 102–4, 118, see also priest, medicineman Woermann trading co., 3, 25, 41, 151, 153, 179 Wohltman, Prof. F., 179, 282 Wokomia (Mokomea) the cook, 55, 57, 173, 212 Woleta, Esasso of Soppo, 20 n1 Woloa, Booloo, chief of Great Soppo, 13, 55 women, appearance of, 197–98, 205–6, 214, 225, 247, 269, 273 women and marriage, 108, 111, 201; payments, 111, 201; polygamy, 114; promiscuity, 202; childbirth, 214; affection for, see love women, abduction of, 93ff; flogging by German, 138; killed, 162; as repayment for debt, 202; and slavery, 108–9 women and property, 109; work, 199, 201, 213, 225, 229; potters, 57, 119, 215; as traders, 239–40 women and religion, 57, 273; bewitched, 10, 39, 42, 105; see also liengu women’s status, 14; as advisor, 85 women mourners, at funerals, 115, 221, 205, 207, 273 Wotani, Wotany, Botani of Soppo, 226, 228, 231–32, 234, 236 wrestling, 209 n8, 257 Wright, A.K., SDO of Victoria, 157 n1, 282 Wututu, 269 Y Yamba, Bawa, xii Yams, 33, 199 Yoma Ndene, 235 n9 Yellow Duke (Nametin) of Old Calabar, 58, 217, 220 Z Zeitlyn, David, xii, 282 Zenker, G., 150 Zimmerer, 52, 140, 152 Zintgraff, Dr., 67 n6, 140, 50, 168, 282 Zöller, Hugo, 3, 5, 6, 10, 13, 17, 20n7, 47ff, 150, 169, 195, 243, 245–277, cruelty, 13, 48, 271, 276 n6, 282