Transcriber’s Note
Footnotes have been located at the end of each chapter.
A number of punctuation errors and apparent typos have been corrected, and are noted in detail in the Notes at the end of this text. The original versions of any corrections may be viewed as you read as mouseover text.
There are two large maps, which have been collected at the end of the volume. The full-size maps can be opened by clicking on the smaller image.
Consult the Transcriber’s Notes at the end of this text for detailed corrections.
WEST AFRICAN STUDIES
BY
MARY H. KINGSLEY
AUTHOR OF “TRAVELS IN WEST AFRICA”
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS
LONDON
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1899
All rights reserved
RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED
LONDON AND BUNGAY.
TO MY BROTHER
MR. C.G. KINGSLEY
AND TO MY FRIEND WHO IS DEAD
THIS BOOK IS
Dedicated
PREFACE TO THE READER
I pray you who may come across this book to distinguish carefullybetween the part of it written by others and that written by me.
Anything concerning West Africa written by M. le Comte C. de Cardi orMr. John Harford, of Bristol, does not require apology and explanation;while anything written by me on this, or any subject, does. M. le Comtede Cardi possesses an unrivalled knowledge of the natives of the NigerDelta, gained, as all West Coasters know, by personal experience, andgained in a way whereby he had to test the truth of his ideas aboutthese natives, not against things said concerning them in books, butagainst the facts themselves, for years; and depending on the accuracyof his knowledge was not a theory, but his own life and property. I havealways wished that men having this kind of first-hand, well-testedknowledge regarding West Africa could be induced to publish it for thebenefit of students, and for the foundation of a true knowledgeconcerning the natives of West Africa in the minds of the generalpublic, feeling assured that if we had this class of knowledgeavailable, the student of ethnology would be saved from