The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-10-16
THE BLACK MANS RUIN.
Gallons of Gin Consumed by the Ma

l tives of Nigeria.
 l We have received a long letter from
 d correspondent in Lagos, dealing witt
 the liquor traffic in Nigeria, from whicl
 we make the following extracts:
 | It is mistake for people at home tc | suppose that statements which are made from time to time in regard tc | the effect of gin drinking upon the na- tives are either falsehoods or eXeagger-
 atlons As one who has lived Cor a
 considerable time in the Niger terri tories. and has actually sold gin 10 the natives not on my own account, but
 for others, l consider that I am quail
 fled to speak on the subject, l have
 resided for somC years on the Niger,
 and during the time I was there I did
 a brisk trade with the natives in gin,
 rum and other barter goods. and had
 many opportunities of judging what
 effect the drinking of Continental dis
 titled spirits had upon different tribes
 of natives with whom I came into con-
 tact. Little or no trade in spirits is
 done up the Benue, owing to the fact
 that the Niger company does not inn
 port spirits above the seventh parallel.
 What gin does reach there is smuggled
 up by the Nupe Brigade of canoemen,
 or by the black hands on the steam
 launches belonging to the company,
 which ply to and fro between the
 Benue stations, Most of the large
 towns on the Benue are Mohametan.
 and the degree of Islamism that na-
 tives profess is just and only just suf-
 ficient to stem the tide of drink, if it
 should ever become possible to obtain
 gin there in any quantity. But it must
 not be forgotten that there are many
 towns on and in the neighborhood of the Benue, inhabited by pagans, who
 have either resisted or failed to be en-
 compassed by the tide of Mohametan
 influence sweeping down the river. To
 them the gin trade is as yet unknown
 The spread of civilization has not reached them.
 At Lokoia, the present imperial mil itary headquarters in Nigeria, no gin is sold by the Royal Niger Company, but 1t can nevertheless always be bought in the native market l have often seen drunkenness at Lokoja. Certainly, the Niger Company prohib- it's spirits from being landed there, but I do not think the company's custom house officers exercise sufficient vigi- lance in the discharge of their duties. Hundreds of eases are smuggled up there. Working downward toward the Niger mouth the next town of impor- tance is Idah. It has a pagan popula tion, but Mohametanism is gaining ground in the neighborhood, and, in- deed throughout the whole Igarra country, of which Idah is the capital. Before the advent of the Niger Com pany in the Niger as an administra- tive body, spirits used 10 be introduced by native middlemen into Idah from European merchants settled in the riv- CTS. When the Niger Company ob- tained influence, however, and began to negotiate treaties with the Mahom- etan emirs in the north, the Sultan of who is the religious head of the in Nigeria, objected to spirits being sold to the Igarras, | among whom Mahometan priests were The Niger Company very wisely agreed not to do so, and subse- | quently prohibited the importation of | spirits above the seventh parallel. But | -and this shows how difficult 1t is to !, eradicate the craving for gin among | heathen tribes when once it has taken | l firm hold-the 1dah people have con- stantly given the company trouble be- | oause they could no longer obtain the | lrnk. All the gin which finds it's way | 70 Idah now is smuggled.
 Below the seventh parallel we enter )nitsha. Abutshi and other towns | where gin in pint bottles and rum in | lemijohns are sold in large quantities. The people of these towns belong to the powerful and numerous Ibo tribe. | From these towns gin radia.es inland, | inti in some interior towns gin im- ported by the Niger Company and gin imported by the merchants of the Nj ger Coast Protectorate can be found in | he same market. The two streams of | spirits, viz, that by way of he Niger River and that by way of he small rivers and creeks of the lelta, meet in these regions, In this interior country gin ia much sought
 fter by the natives A flintlock gun r a soldiers red coat are always ac eptable, but case of gin makes the :eart glad of a very big king.
 When he possesses the treasure he an take two or three of his wives, 1 hrow a cloth around him, have large 1g fire made, and sit Literally on his athers grave and inbibe, while his | dmiring wives squatting beside him oss off the spirit in small calabashen. The King of Ontshaobo used to do his when I knew him-sit for hours nd drink himself into a maudlin con- ition in the company of his devoted pouses. It was a curious thing that he King inevitably chose the site of is fathers grave Ga few cowrie shells tuck in the ground marked the spot) pr his drinking bouts. In Abutshi and ! 'nitsha there is gin everywhere, all hough the Church Missionary Society nd the Roman Catholic missions have ried to fight against it. A stroll trough an Ibo town induces reflection. | Instead Of calabashes filled with yam, sh and palm wine, which you ob- serve in villages that the gin trade