Travels in West Africa | Page 2

its great forests and
rivers and its animistic-minded inhabitants, and for my ability to be
more comfortable there than in England. Your superior culture-instincts
may militate against your enjoying West Africa, but if you go there you
will find things as I have said.
January, 1897.

PREFACE TO THE ABRIDGED EDITION OF TRAVELS IN WEST
AFRICA.

When on my return to England from my second sojourn in West Africa,

I discovered, to my alarm, that I was, by a freak of fate, the sea- serpent
of the season, I published, in order to escape from this reputation, a
very condensed, much abridged version of my experiences in Lower
Guinea; and I thought that I need never explain about myself or Lower
Guinea again. This was one of my errors. I have been explaining ever
since; and, though not reconciled to so doing, I am more or less
resigned to it, because it gives me pleasure to see that English people
can take an interest in that land they have neglected. Nevertheless, it
was a shock to me when the publishers said more explanation was
required. I am thankful to say the explanation they required was merely
on what plan the abridgment of my first account had been made. I can
manage that explanation easily. It has been done by removing from it
certain sections whole, and leaving the rest very much as it first stood.
Of course it would have been better if I had totally reformed and
rewritten the book in pellucid English; but that is beyond me, and I feel
at any rate this book must be better than it was, for there is less of it;
and I dimly hope critics will now see that there is a saving grace in
disconnectedness, for owing to that disconnectedness whole chapters
have come out without leaving holes.
As for the part that is left in, I have already apologised for its form, and
I cannot help it, for Lower Guinea is like what I have said it is. No one
who knows it has sent home contradictions of my description of it, or
its natives, or their manners or customs, and they have had by now
ample time and opportunity. The only complaints I have had regarding
my account from my fellow West Coasters have been that I might have
said more. I trust my forbearance will send a thrill of gratitude through
readers of the 736-page edition.
There is, however, one section that I reprint, regarding which I must
say a few words. It is that on the trade and labour problem in West
Africa, particularly the opinion therein expressed regarding the liquor
traffic. This part has brought down on me much criticism from the
Missionary Societies and their friends; and I beg gratefully to
acknowledge the honourable fairness with which the controversy has
been carried on by the great Wesleyan Methodist Mission to the Gold
Coast and the Baptist Mission to the Congo. It has not ended in our
agreement on this point, but it has raised my esteem of Missionary
Societies considerably; and anyone interested in this matter I beg to

refer to the Baptist Magazine for October, 1897. Therein will be found
my answer, and the comments on it by a competent missionary
authority; for the rest of this matter I beg all readers of this book to bear
in mind that I confine myself to speaking only of the bit of Africa I
know--West Africa. During this past summer I attended a meeting at
which Sir George Taubman Goldie spoke, and was much struck with
the truth of what he said on the difference of different African regions.
He divided Africa into three zones: firstly, that region where white
races could colonise in the true sense of the word, and form a great
native-born white population, namely, the region of the Cape; secondly,
a region where the white race could colonise, but to a less extent--an
extent analogous to that in India--namely, the highlands of Central East
Africa and parts of Northern Africa; thirdly, a region where the white
races cannot colonise in a true sense of the word, namely, the West
African region, and in those regions he pointed out one of the main
elements of prosperity and advance is the native African population. I
am quoting his words from memory, possibly imperfectly; but there is
very little reliable printed matter to go on when dealing with Sir George
Taubman Goldie, which is regrettable because he himself is an
experienced and reliable authority. I am however quite convinced that
these aforesaid distinct regions are regions that the practical politician
dealing with Africa must recognise, and keep constantly in mind when
attempting to solve the many difficulties that that great continent
presents, and sincerely