Lagos

“ But, in due course, George Lawrence reached Kano and the Nassarawa Gate in the East Wall, which leads to the European segregation, there to wait for a couple of days for the bi-weekly train to Lagos. These days he whiled away in strolling about the wonderful Haussa city, visiting the market-place, exploring its seven square miles of streets of mud houses, with their ant-proof dôm-palm beams; watching the ebb and flow of varied black and brown humanity at the thirteen great gates in its mighty earthen ramparts ”

“ While at Lagos I heard that there was one of those fortified Mohammedan towns, peculiar to the interior of Western Africa, some eighteen miles to the north-east of the island. I had never seen one of these towns, so I hired a boat and a guide, and started early one morning for this particular one, which was named Ikorudu. We paddled along the lagoon for some distance, until we had passed the mouth of the river Ogu, and then the canoe-men ran the canoe into the mud of a mangrove swamp, and the guide said I was to disembark. ”

“ At table I sat next to a Lagos official, who proved himself a real friend, and I have never ceased to be grateful to him for his encouragement and cheerful prognostications, at a time when I sorely needed them. Mr. Stone’s work at Lagos—that of road construction—lay entirely amongst the up-country natives, and he would tell me a thousand anecdotes of their simple kindly ways, courteous hospitality, and child-like interest in white people—prophesying that I should be friends with them at once, and, if anything, get rather spoilt amongst them—a forecast which has been amply fulfilled since. ”

“ Notwithstanding the fact that the outward aspect from the lagoon is almost entirely European, Lagos is, broadly speaking, a great native city; and it is on that account that it is so attractive to the curious stranger. The European section, which runs chiefly in a line along the long shores of the lagoon, is as a rampart between the sea and the great area of native town which lies hidden behind the solidity and imposing stature of the commercial and domestic buildings of the white man. ”

“ Lagos, however, has been already ceded to England, and, under a better management, will probably become one of the great ports at which a legitimate trade can be carried on, and which will become one of the blessings instead of the curses of Western Africa. ”

“ Vines and figs are extensively cultivated in the neighbourhood, and Lagos is the centre of important sardine and tunny fisheries. Its trade is chiefly carried on by small coasting vessels, as there is no railway. Lagos is on or near the site of the Roman Lacobriga. ”

“ CLIX. Steamer Athenien, off Lagos, West Coast of Africa, March 23, 1860.
After visiting the Grain, Ivory, and Gold Coasts, and the territory of the king of Dahomy, we now find ourselves off the formidable breakers of Lagos. The mail bags we headed up in a puncheon, in the event of capsizing the native boat. The landing is so unsafe, and being probably the worst on the coast of Africa, none of us are allowed to make the attempt. Two passengers [580] from Acra go on board of vessels lying outside, at anchor, until a more favorable opportunity offers. Sometimes no landing is effected for weeks. ”

“ The thing you must always bear in mind when observing institutions and so on from Sierra Leone down to Lagos, is that the fertile belt between the salt sea of the Bight of Benin and the sand sea of Sahara is but a narrow band of forest and fertile country, while, when you get below Lagos—Lagos itself is a tongue of the Western Soudan coming down to the sea—you are in the true heart of Africa, the Equatorial Forest Belt ”

“ Shortly after this Ikorudu trip I took advantage of the sailing of a small steamer belonging to a mercantile firm at Lagos to proceed to Badagry, which lies to the west, up the Victoria lagoon. It is thirty-three miles from Lagos as the crow flies, but the tortuous nature of the only navigable channel makes the distance very much greater for bipeds not possessed of wings. ”

“ Bom Dios—Bother it, I suppose it is—says Portugal—must do something to smarten up dear Angola. She is over 400 now, and hasn’t had any new frocks since [Pg 284] the slave trade days; perhaps they are right, and it’s time this dear child came out. So Loanda, Angola, was ordered street lamps—stylish things street lamps!—a telephone, and a water supply. Now, say what you please, Loanda is not only the finest, but the only, city in West Africa. “Lagos! you ejaculate—you don’t know Lagos.” ”

“ LAGOS, the western province of Southern Nigeria, a British colony and protectorate in West Africa. The province consists of three divisions: (1) the coast region, including Lagos Island, being the former colony of Lagos; (2) small native states adjacent to the colony; and (3) the Yoruba country, farther inland. ”

“ Neither of them knew that Lagos, though the chief West African port, and practically the only safe harbor on the Guinea Coast, was the capital of an administration quite separate from that of North and of South Nigeria. To reach Old Calabar, the headquarters of Warden’s service, they must take a long journey down the coast and penetrate some forty miles into the Niger delta. Captain Mortimer, in all probability, thought she was aware of this vital distinction, but, at the outset, Evelyn almost felt that she had undertaken a useless task. ”

“ Porto-Novo, which is exceeded in population only by Lagos on this coast, forms a group of villages on the north side of the lagoon which communicates with the Badagry and Lagos rivers. The royal palace, which is approached by a fetish gate embellished with rude sculptures of tutelar deities, was surrounded so recently as 1875 by decapitated bodies and festoons of human skulls. A considerable trade is carried on with the northern towns of Aggera and Sahetey, and with the interior as far as the banks of the Niger. ”

“ The population, of Lagos is estimated at about thirty thousand: there are about fifteen hundred emigrants from Sierra Leone, the Brazils and Cuba. All these are themselves native Africans, brought from the interior and sold on different parts of the coast. ”

“ I noticed about eighty citizen soldiers drawn up in front of the church, listening to the harangue of a clerical gentleman, attired in a stove-pipe hat and flowing gown.
There was not a remuda—change—to be had for love or money in San Juan de Lagos; all the horses having been secured and carried into the country during the pronunciamentos; after a bowl of frijoles and tortillas, we were obliged to remount our wearied beasts, and toil slowly onward. ”

“ The prosperity of the country depends chiefly on the export of palm-oil and palm-kernels. Copra, kola-nuts, rubber and dried fish are also exported, the fish going to Lagos. The adulteration of the palm-kernels by the natives, which became a serious menace to trade, was partially checked (1900–1903) by measures taken to ensure the inspection of the kernels before shipment. Trade is mainly with Germany and Great Britain, a large proportion of the cargo passing through the British port of Lagos. Only some 25% of the commerce is with France. ”

“ An elusive and sinister obstruction is Lagos bar, strewn with wrecks and hitherto refractory to dredging, which shifts its depths three feet in a single week, while the position of the channels is continually altering. As one surveys the coast-line and notes the two, comparatively speaking, deep and roomy anchorages of Forcados and Old Calabar, one cannot refrain from marvelling somewhat at the curious chain of events which has conspired to concentrate effort and expense upon a place so difficult of access. ”

“ The expense of a voyage to Lagos directly from America, should not exceed $100 for first-class, and $60 for second-class: via Liverpool, besides the expense of the voyage thither, it would cost $200 for first-class, and $150 for second-class: $25 should include all expense of landing at Lagos, and of the journey to Abbeokuta.
The best protection on which a settler should rely in Africa, is that which all men are disposed to afford a good and honest man. The proper kind of emigrants want no protection among the natives of the Egba and Yoruba countries. ”

“ The journey from Lagos to Abbeokuta is usually made by canoes, up the river Ogun, the waters of which empty into the bay of Lagos. Somewhat west of its embouchure is the Ogboi creek or cut, communicating with the Ogun about ten or twelve miles from the bay. Canoe-men always prefer reaching the river by means of this cut, as the distance direct up the river is greater. ”

“ How the caravels arrived at Lagos, and of the account that Lançarote gave to the Infant.
The caravels arrived at Lagos, whence they had set out, having excellent weather for their voyage, for fortune was not less gracious to them in the serenity of the weather than it had been to them before in the capture of their booty.
And from Lagos the news [AQ] reached the Infant, who happened to have arrived there a few hours before, from other parts where he had been for some days. And as you see that people are desirous of knowledge, some endeavoured to get near the shore ”

“ In and around Ibadan, Oyo, and Lagos you meet the Kano and Sokoto trader with his donkeys and pack-bullocks, and even the Tuareg with whom you parted company months before in the far north, travelling on the roads or camping for the night near some local village. The road is at once the club-house and public rendezvous for Nigerian humanity. A vast commingling, a far-reaching fusion unexampled in the history of these peoples is taking place. ”

“ Therefore we've deemed it worth while to send a ship—one of our regular Cape boats on her lay-up voyage—to Lagos, and try for the safe.
"The ship is a total loss, and will be covered all right, but the diamonds are not insured, owing, as I have said, to some disagreement with the underwriters lately, and it has been just our luck to lose them this voyage.
"You are to take the Prince John, and go to Lagos. There you will find the wrecking crew waiting orders. You are to see that we get that safe intact—you understand? We want that safe just as it was before it went to the bottom. ”

“ The native inhabitants of Lagos and the surrounding country, with the exception of the Porto Novans, who are pagans, are Mohammedans, belonging principally to the Yoruba tribe, which appears to be an offshoot of the Houssa race. They are a quiet, orderly, and industrious people, and form a pleasing contrast to the idle and insolent, so-called Christians, of Sierra Leone, and the lazy tribes of the Gold Coast. ”

“ Lagos, a city of perhaps forty thousand inhabitants, is the seat of extensive manufactures, and especially important as the central station, whence branch lines will extend to the famous mining cities of San Luis Potosi on the east and Guadalajara on the west.
The largest manufacturing city in the republic is Leon. Its population is one hundred thousand, and the principal manufactures are cottons and woolens, hats, boots and shoes, and cutlery.
Silao is beautifully situated in a fertile valley. ”

“ The city occupies a large space on the west side of this marshy land, where the European quarter has been built on ground partly reclaimed from the lagoon. Of late years its trade has suffered from the frequent wars between the inland states, owing to which much of the traffic has been diverted to the factories on the Niger delta. East of Lagos, the chief places on the coast are Talma, Leckie, or Ychu, and Odi, and on the lagoon the most important town is Epe. ”

“ There are many substantial villas that serve as quarters for the officers of the civil service, as well as numerous solidly-built handsome private buildings. The streets are well kept; the town is supplied with electric light, and there is a good water service. The chief stores and depôts for goods are all on the banks of the lagoon. The swamps of which originally Lagos Island entirely consisted have been reclaimed. ”

“ These people early turned their attention to agriculture and manufacturing, and by steady increase in population, it soon became a city of great wealth and importance. About thirty years ago, a number of recaptives from Sierra Leone, who had formerly been taken from this region of country, and who had been recaptured by the English, liberated and educated, visited Lagos for trade. Here they met many of their old friends and relations from Abeokuta, learned of the flourishing town that had grown up, and with larger numbers returned to swell the population of the new city. ”

“ Lagos was made a separate government in 1863; in 1866 it was placed in political dependence upon Sierra Leone; in 1874 it became (politically) an integral part of the Gold Coast Colony, whilst in 1886 it was again made a separate government, administered as a crown colony. In Sir William Macgregor, M.D., formerly administrator of British New Guinea, governor 1899–1904, the colony found an enlightened ruler. He inaugurated the railway system, and drew much closer the friendly ties between the British and the tribes of the protectorate. ”

“ Horses thrive very well at Lagos, and every merchant keeps his horse and trap; not that there is anywhere much to drive to, except the Marina, as all the streets through the native town consist of ankle-deep sand, and the eastern portion of the island, where there are no houses, is a mere sandbank. The horses are small, being all of Arab blood, and are brought down from the interior by Mohammedan traders; they cost from £15 to £30 a-piece. In the matter of horses and food Lagos has a great advantage over other towns in West Africa. ”