Part 6

“Each village is an independent community under a chief. The inhabitants are entirely ignorant of the world beyond the next village to their own. The nominal chief of the village has not, as a rule, as much influence as the local ju-ju man or witch doctor, whose power over these extremely superstitious people is directly proportionate to his success in imposing upon their credulity. Any calamity, such as an epidemic of sickness or a sudden death, is always attributed to the evil eye, and some member of the community is at once suspected, and either killed or sold to passing Hausa traders. If a chief dies, the village always moves to another site. This partly accounts for the number of deserted villages and ruins found in the Shebshi Mountains.

“The Chambas are industrious agriculturists, and keep large numbers of goats and fowls in their villages. The farms are generally at the foot of the hills. After the harvest the people brew large supplies of spirit from the grain, and get drunk for several days together. These orgies generally result in fighting among themselves. The principal industry, besides agriculture, is working in iron. They make their own farm implements, spear and arrow heads, and pipe-stems.”

THE TERABA VALLEY.

From Dakka the boundary line follows the Kam for about a dozen miles, and then, leaving the river, it runs over a block of hills which form the fringe of a vast unknown tract of the Cameroon country. Here the hill-top villages are few, the inhabitants are wilder and more squalid than the Dakka natives, and the land is the haunt of the elephant, the lion, the bush-cow and the leopard. From these hills the boundary descends into the valley of the River Lumen, which runs for twenty or thirty miles under a dark arch of overhanging trees. The water of the Lumen is very cold, even in the heat of the day, and the sands of the river are full of iron. The line crosses the Lumen and mounts a high ridge, called Shina, to descend again into the vast plain of the River Teraba. Along the banks of the Teraba are numerous Hausa and Jukum villages, situated on important trade roads between Northern Nigeria and Cameroon, the principal trade being in rubber, kola nuts, sheep, and goats. There are no cattle, as many kinds of biting fly, including the tsetse, have their breeding places in this area. As the Teraba is typical of all the great southern tributaries of the Benue, the following short description, which Captain Nugent gives of one of the upper reaches, will be read with interest:--

“Fifteen miles above Karbabi the river bends sharply at right angles, forming noisy rapids. Above the rapids the bed is rocky with deep pools. Under the tall trees along the banks are open glades like an English beech wood, entirely free from undergrowth, the ground being carpeted with soft moss. There are the feeding-grounds of huge herds of hippopotami, who live in the pools in the daytime. The river is here 200 to 300 yards wide, with high banks; the channel winds among huge boulders, forming a chain of pools, but leaving a narrow deep waterway among the larger rocks. The pools are like dark mirrors, silent and stagnant, yet bright and clear, reflecting the trees on the opposite bank in full detail. Wild geese and ibis fly overhead, whilst large alligators move about like torpedoes, with their noses out of the water, leaving long trails of bubbles on the surface.

“There is no village within many miles of this place, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that we could obtain guides, as there are no tracks except those made by the larger game. The inhabitants of the pools were thoroughly startled at our approach. There seemed to be a sort of collusion between the different birds and beasts. The shrieking ibis warned the alligators asleep on the rocks in the sun, they, in alarm, slid into the water and warned the river-horse that something was amiss; the river-horse in his turn went pounding up-stream, under water, coming up to breathe at intervals behind the rocks and branches. The snorting was terrific. We estimated that there were between thirty and forty hippopotami in the largest pool. I have never seen a wilder-looking place; it seemed to be alive with everything except humanity.

IN THE CANNIBAL COUNTRY.

“The boundary after crossing the Gazuba River, a tributary of the Teraba, again ascends into an unexplored continuation of the Banjo highlands, and drops into the plain of the Donga Valley. The inhabitants here are a mixture of Jukums and Zumperis, but there are numerous settlements of Hausas, whose trade consists of smuggling rubber and kola nuts into Nigeria without paying the German tax. The pagans, who live in ‘swallow-nest’ villages on the heights, cultivate guinea-corn and root crops, while yams, cassava and sweet potatoes grow in abundance in the interstices between the huts. The boundary reaches the Donga, and after following the river for fifteen miles and crossing the plateau of the Wanya Mountains, reaches the plain of the Bamana Valley, in which oil palms are first encountered.

“The country between the Gamana and Katsena Rivers is inhabited by Zumperi pagans, who are cannibals and live on hill-tops. They are of small stature and of remarkably repulsive appearance. Every other man appeared to be suffering from goitre or elephantiasis--whether the legacy of cannibalism, or the effect of drinking infected water, it is difficult to say. The people are industrious, and besides corn, grow large quantities of cotton and tobacco on the hillsides. They breed dogs for eating purposes, and all the villages are full of yelping curs, covered with sores like their owners. In one village a large deposit of human skulls was seen. The villages are well built and surrounded by mud walls and ditches. Among the numerous ‘ju-jus’ found in the deserted huts was a grotesque mask, which was apparently kept to frighten the women. Any woman seeing it must die at once. When the community is short of meat, the local witch doctor puts on the mask and runs about the hills until he meets a likely looking victim, who is then killed and eaten. The Zumperis are great hunters, and have killed off nearly all the game in their country except leopards.”

MUNCHI CIVILISATION.

From the Zumperi country the Commission traversed the undulating plain that connects it with the valley of the Katsena, the last of the three great tributaries of the Benue, and ascending this valley reached the Agara or Misa Munchis district. The branch of the large and powerful Munchi tribe which inhabits this area have preserved themselves from contamination with the neighbouring tribes, by whom they are greatly feared. The Munchis of the plains, who are of good physique and very intelligent, are supposed to have come originally from a country called Para, somewhere north of Yola, and they still call themselves Para among themselves. Many of their customs are similar to the Zulus, with whom they have often been compared, and the majority of their laws are identical with those of Leviticus. Their villages are well built and clean, and the men are brave in war and industrious in peace. Their marriage customs, in addition to the payment of a dowry, include exchanges of sisters, daughters and sometimes wives. Polygamy is rife, and the value of a dowry varies from two cows in the case of a young girl, to one cow or less in the case of a widow or elderly woman.

“The Munchis are of striking appearance. Those near the boundary are poor and wear few clothes. They go in for extravagant hairdressing, the most popular coiffure being a shaven head with one or two balls of hair left growing. Others wear their hair in beaded strands, falling over the side of the face. The tribal markings are a number of raised tattoo marks, in the form of a crescent, on both sides of the temple. These are universal, and are compulsory for both sexes, but the marks disappear in old age. Other markings are tattoed stars and rings on the forehead, chest and back, but these are all optional. The two front teeth of the upper jaw are filed into V-shape.

“The Munchis are excellent farmers, and grow guinea-corn, yams, millet, beniseed, maize, and ground-nuts in large quantities. They also cultivate cotton, from which they weave good cloth, dyeing is with indigo, which is grown round every compound. Each village has at least one public dye-pit. Tobacco is also grown, and is either used as snuff or smoked in large pipes with bowls of clay and stems of smelted brass.

“They are clever workers in wood and iron, making chairs and stools, in the carving of which they display some art and much ingenuity. The iron ore found locally used to be smelted in large quantities, and the remains of old workings can be seen in many places, but trade iron bars are now more generally used: from these spears and arrow-heads, hoes, knives, and daggers are constructed. The small knives are curious in shape, the handles being iron loops, which fit over the palm of the hand. The hoes have broad, heavy blades, fitted with short, crooked wooded handles, and are most effective agricultural implements. The principal weapons of offence are bows and arrows, the arrows being poisoned with a compound of crushed and boiled strophanthus seeds, snakes’ heads, and poisonous plants, &c., which when freshly made is very potent, the slightest scratch causing a man to die in agony in twenty minutes. The fumes from this poison, when it is being boiled, are very deadly, even in the open air. The mixing is always done by one of the numerous ju-ju men, who profess to have antidotes, both external and internal, but there is no authenticated case of a cure having been seen by any European up to date.

“In every village there is a large war-drum, constructed from a hollowed-out log, over which is stretched a hide. The Munchis are expert in the use of these drums for signalling purposes, and messages are sent in code from village to village throughout their country with great rapidity and accuracy.

“They are very fond of dances and plays, which, accompanied by songs, are held on the occasion of the death of a chief or the headman of a compound, also at births and marriages. These dances are often kept up for several days when the host is rich enough to supply the food and drink, the latter being an intoxicating liquid distilled from guinea-corn.

THE GRASS LAND REGION.

“Leaving the Munchis’ country, the Commission came to the junction of the Amiri and Mahana Rivers--whose steep banks are lined with magnificent trees, from which hang long ribbon orchids over a series of deep clear pools full of large fish--in a region of open grass land. The road up the Amiri Valley passes through extensive yam fields and Olitti and Atcho villages, composed of roomy, massive houses in small stone-walled compounds, protected with loop-holed thorn palisades. Grass land is reached at a height of 4,000 feet, and the path after crossing five separate peaks of 2,000 feet reaches the main ridge about 5,000 feet above sea level. To the north and east, as far as the eye can see, stretches open grass land, with range upon range of blue mountains in the distance. Across the plain sweep parallel shining rivers, disappearing through gaps in the hills to the north. To the south and west, the great forest-clad plain extends to the Cross River, whose valley forty miles away is marked by a long bank of clouds. All around is high tableland, cut up into small plateaux by numerous ravines, down which countless streams tear headlong to the plains.”

Descending from the main plateau, which is covered with thick short grass and appears to be an ideal district for cattle raising, the Commission came to the first villages of the Anyangs, who are almost invariably at war with the grass land people. “Their villages are hidden away in the forest, and consist of long, low, rectangular mud houses with roofs of palm-leaves, on either side of a squalid street. The people are very poor, and live almost entirely on plantains, their farms being in small clearings, widely separated. Pigs are kept in large numbers in the villages. Further south, the people met with are Bokis, who extend to the Cross River.... The village boundaries, although in dense forest, are well known to the natives, who are extremely jealous of their rubber-collecting rights.”

The geological structure of the boundary zone, taken as a whole, is said to present few features of interest. Traces of tin were found in some of the rivers flowing north from the watershed of the Cross River and Benue system, and nearly all the rivers crossed by the Commission contained traces of monazite. The occasional belts of forest along the streams in the open bush country, north of the watershed between the Benue and Cross River systems, are mostly full of vine rubber (_Landolphia_). The forest line to the south of the Benue-Cross River watershed extends without a break to the Cross River, and from there to the sea. The trees grow to a great height, and the whole forest abounds in ebony, mahogany and other valuable timbers. The rains in the boundary districts begin in March with a few violent tornadoes, which become more frequent and less violent until May, and from that month till September heavy rain falls almost every day. By the end of September the rivers are in full flood, and the low-lying country is under water. In October the steady rain ceases, and at the end of the month the dry season sets in.

NEW CAMEROON.

The region of New Cameroon which was added to the German territory under the Franco-German Agreement of November 4th, 1911, was represented as being swampy, depopulated, and devastated by sleeping sickness, and the Teuton acquisition was greeted with general derision. But a more thorough investigation of the possession has shown that it is not so bad as it was painted, and while there are tracts that hold out no promises of profitable development, there are districts in the New Cameroon which will handsomely repay exploitation. The German “frontier” expedition into the interior has published descriptions of a steppe region covered with tall grasses, bushes, and trees interspersed with grassy plains. The country abounds with a variety of animals, including giraffes, antelopes, gazelles, buffaloes, zebras, rhinoceri, elephants, and apes, and the Lagone and its tributaries contain large quantities of fish. It is inhabited by the Lakka tribe, a very independent race of Sudan negroes, who live in villages and disclose many differences in languages, manners, and customs. Hunting and fishing are their secondary occupation, but their regular occupation is agriculture. Their well-tilled fields, fertilised with the ashes of burnt grass, produce millet, ground-nuts, tobacco, hemp, and cotton, and their greatest delicacies are dried fish and caterpillars. They possess a few horses and goats, and the women employ themselves in pottery and basket work when not engaged in agriculture. Herr Eltester says that the Pangwe tribe, inhabiting the Muni district, are distinguished by every conceivable bad quality. They are thieves, liars, and idlers, and are given to indolence. The men sit around in the villages and smoke, the boys lay traps for wild animals, and the women till the fields.

THE DIFFICULTIES OF DEVELOPMENT.

The greatest drawback to the systematic development of the Cameroons is the naturally bad means of communication as regards both roads and waterways. The country being largely of steppe-like formation, the rivers are frequently interrupted by rapids and waterfalls. The chief rivers, the Munga, Wuri, and Sanaga, are only navigable by steamers for a distance of seventy kilometres. Beyond this point, litter-transport has to be employed, and as bearers can only carry loads of 60 to 70 lbs. for a distance of from twenty to twenty-five kilometres a day, and as the distance from Duala, the coast station, to Central Cameroon is a thirty days’ journey, and to Lake Chad twenty days’, few products, except ivory and rubber, can bear this expensive means of transport. The most important tasks before the Government which is entrusted with the future of the Cameroons is the amplification of the means of communication, the encouragement of native civilisation, the exploitation of the economic resources of the valuable hinterland, and the extension of the plantation system. The enormous physical difficulties in the way of railway construction must not be under-estimated. The country is covered with colossal tropical growths, which must be cleared, the plague of sleeping-sickness must be stamped out, and the dreaded tsetse fly banished. In such regions railway building is arduous and costly, but not until the rich regions hitherto unreached have been brought into communication with the coast, will the Cameroons begin to profit by its “unlimited possibilities.”