The fetish rule of the King of Bénin

Most of the trade of the Bénin country finds its way to Lagos by way of Jebu and Abeokuta , though a certain amount cornes down the Bénin River.

Nearly ail trade products are reserved for the King's benefit. This is done by placing a "ju ju" on the products in question.

Any Jakri man who whishes to trade in the Bénin country must first pay a very heavy tax to the King.

As a rule. this has to be paid every year. The King also has a knack of very often demanding a further payment of such tax, and if his i wjsh is, not gratified he not only stops trade, but very often makes a, raid on the offenders.

Gwing to the fetish rule several very valuable trade products cannot be touched. Amongst thèse is the palm kernel. ïïowever , since the signing of the Treaty between Her Majesty.and the King in March last, the King has expressed his readiness to open up trade in several of thèse hitherto forbidden commodities, the most noticeable being gum copal , in which the country abounds, and palm kernels.

Trade is continually being stopped by order of the King, it generally •being impossible to ascertain why.

The King struck me as being very rêady to listen to reason, but he is tied down by fetish customs, and until the power of the fetish priests is done away with, the trade of the Bénin country will continue to be a very doubtfoul soucree of profit to any great extent.

The breaking down of this fetish theocracy must take time , and can only be effected by degress. Anything in the shape of a punitory expe-

Afrique.

dition , though it may eventually prove advisable , would paralyze trade for a very long period.

The same remark ap plies to the handliug of the Jakri people in their position as middlemen.

4. The inability of the native to understand the varying price of products in the home markets.

The Jakri men appear quite unable to grasp the fact that the price of oil, &c, can change from time to the, and if the white traders find it necessary, owing to the state of time market, to lower the price paid for oil , &c. , it very often causes a very serious stoppage of trade , and rather than take the smaller price the natives prefer to keep their oil until the price rises. Consequently it is very often necessary for the white man to buy at a minimum profit.

This is particularly the case where Nanna is concerned. He considers, and until verry lately looked upon it as a right, tha the sould receive a higher price than any one else , in fact, he expects to receive 22s. 6d. for his sovereign.

There are only two Jakri men who can read and write , i. e., now living in the district, and consequently the people can gain no information from the newspapers as to the state of the home markets.

5. The establishment of factories by the white traders up-country. Until very lately the Jakris have been undisturbed as middlemen,

and are therefore very adverse to the white man trading direct with the marked people.

During the past year the power of the middleman has been steadily on the wane, although he has fought very hard against the inévitable. He cannot, or will not, understand the fairness of free trade, and there have been several cases of obstruction towards the two firms who have already established factories in the Sobo and Bénin countries.

The two firms already alluded to have so far had a very up - hill fight to carry on, and the agents, Messrs. Swainson and Punch, are to be commended on their enterprise and energy in the matter.

This obstruction against the withe man trading direct with the market people must and will continue to a certain extent until military posts are established.

At the same time, I should be verry sorry to see the necessity arise of using violent means to bring the natives to their sensés. Should such a necessity arise, trade would suffer very considerably for the time being.

In the meantime , the Sobo people are afraid to trade to any extent with the white man owing to their fear of the Jakris, who are continually threatening them.

The above five reasons, though there may be other minor ones, are, in my opinion, aceountable for the state of trade during the past year.

Probable new Developments. — Although oil and kernels have heretofore been the only trade products of the district, with the exception of an occasional lot of ivory and rubber, I feel confident that in the very neary future many new commodities will be traded in, and very largely too.

Zz*

Grande - Bretagne, Afriqu e.

The Jakri man, as I said before, is verry averse to striking out a line of trade, Now, however, that the white man has established himself up-country, many new developraents should very soon be worked.

The district abounds in rubber, gum copal, gum arabic, turmeric, incense gums, fibres of many kinds, mahogany, and hard woods.

I feel confident that tobacco, cocoa, and coffee would flourish, although the cost of labour would probably prevent the white man from cultivating coffee. However , I hope the natives themselves may see the wisdom of starting plantations of ail thèse articles.

Peppers are largely grown by the Abrakar-Sobo people, and I fancy this finds its way to the Niger.

The difficulty in the timber trade will be chiefly in carting the logs to the water-side. The country about Sapeli abounds in mahogany. There are, however, no roads, ano the forest is very dense. There is a first-rate anchorage at Sapeli , and branch steamers can run up there without any risk, so once the wood is brought to the water-side the difficulty would cease.

Future Prospects. — I am very sanguine as to the future prospects of the district , and feel certain that , in time , there will be no more wealthy district in the Protectorate.

The natives, as far as civilization goes, are far behind those of Bonny, Opobo, and olp Calabar. This to a great measure accounts for the great aversion they have to départ from the teaching of their forefathers.

There has never been a Mission in the district. The late Bishop Crowther attempted to establish one fifteen or twenty years ago , but the Chiefs objected, and I do not fancy any effort has been made in that direction since. This accounts for the very backward state of the inhabitants so fer as éducation goes. However , I hope before very long to see an Industrial Mission established.