This state of affairs will
remain as it is until some true specific is discovered for malaria,
something important happens to the angle of the earth's axis, or
some radical change takes place in the nature of the sun, is the
opinion of all acquainted with the region. The West African climate
shows no signs of improving whatsoever. If it shows any sign of
alteration it is for the worse, for of late years two extremely
deadly forms of fever have come into notice here, malarial typhoid
and blackwater. The malarial typhoid seems confined to districts
where a good deal of European attention has been given to drainage
systems, which is in itself discouraging.
The labour problem has been imported with European civilisation.
The civilisation has not got on to any considerable extent, but the
labour problem has; for, being a malignant nuisance, it has taken to
West Africa as a duck to water, and it is now flourishing. It has
not yet, however, attained its zenith; it is just waiting for the
abolition of domestic slavery for that - and then! Meanwhile it
grows with the demand for hands to carry on plantation work, and
public works. On the West Coast - that is to say, from Sierra Leone
to Cameroon - it is worse than on the South West Coast from Cameroon
to Benguella.
The Kruman, the Accra, and the Sierra Leonian are at present on the
West Coast the only solution available. The first is as fine a
ship-and-beach-man as you could reasonably wish for, but no good for
plantation work. The second is, thanks to the practical training he
has received from the Basel Mission, a very fair artisan, cook, or
clerk, but also no good for plantation work, except as an overseer.
The third is a poor artisan, an excellent clerk, or subordinate
official, but so unreliable in the matter of honesty as to be nearly
reliable to swindle any employer. Lagos turns out a large quantity
of educated natives, but owing to the growing prosperity of the
colony, these are nearly all engaged in Lagos itself.
An important but somewhat neglected factor in the problem is the
nature of the West African native, and as I think a calm and
unbiassed study of this factor would give us the satisfactory
solution to the problem, I venture to give my own observations on
it.
The Kruboys, as the natives of the Grain Coast are called,
irrespective of the age of the individual, by the white men - the
Menekussi as the Effiks call them - are the most important people of
West Africa; for without their help the working of the Coast would
cost more lives than it already does, and would be in fact
practically impossible.
