POSITION OF BENIN KINGDOM By Captain Alain Boisragon THE kingdom of Benin lies somewhere between the latitudes of 5º to 6º N. and the longitudes 5º to 6 E. In olden days it used to reach right down to the coast-line, but how far inland to the north and east it is almost impossible to tell. Benin City Country touched the Benin River, but was bounded on the west and south by the Gwatto and Ilogi Creeks. Consequently, anyone who has not been there is apt to get somewhat confused in hearing of the different Benins. First of all there is Benin City and the Benin Kingdom, then the Benin River, near the mouth of which is what is called New Benin, consisting of the different factories and the old Vice-Consulate House, now only used as a Custom and Post office, and finally what is known as the Benin District, under a Vice-Consul, which comprises all the country around and between Sapele and Warri. To take the river first, which is only called the Benin River for about fifty miles, as above Sapele, which is about that distance from the sea, two smaller streams join, one of which flows from the north, being called the Jamieson, and the other from the east, the Ethiope. The Jamieson is navigable for steam launches for about thirty miles to a place called Sapobah; from there small canoes can get up only a little farther, as the river becomes but a small stream too narrow for any navigation, and overgrown with big forest trees. The Ethiope comes into Sapele from the east, and was the south-east boundary of the Benin Kingdom. On the left bank are another tribe called the Sobos, who are the great oil-producers of this part of the world, and who also used to produce the majority of slaves for the Benin City people. Sapele has now become the headquarters of the government and trade of the Benin River, the Consulate and several factories having been moved there. It is a lovely place to look at, as there is a magnificent background of huge forest trees to all the different clearings, while on the other bank is one dense mass of foliage, the forest reaching right down to the water-side. Here, too, the water begins to become beautifully clear, and is studded every here and there with masses of water-lilies and small green islands made of water plants just peeping above the surface of the water. However lovely to look at, it is not quite so pleasant to live in, being, like all this part of West Africa, more or less unhealthy. From Sapele a good road has been made across to Warri, about twenty-five miles distant, where is the other Protectorate Government Vice-Consulate of this part of the world. From Warri the great Niger River can be reached by water through what is called the Warri branch of the Niger, one of its numberless offshoots, and, in the event of the Niger River and Niger Coast Protectorate ever coming under the same government, would be a place of great importance, as the big main line steamers can get up easily to Warri from the Forcados River, while at present they have a little difficulty sometimes in reaching the Royal Niger Company’s depôts at Boruta, situated on the left bank of the Forcados River, and Akassa, at the mouth of the river Nun entrance of the Niger. To return to Sapele : about eight miles below is Warrigi, where the main column of the Naval Brigade was concentrated before the advance on Benin City. Seven miles north from Warrigi is Ciri on the Ilogi Creek, where the Niger Coast Protectorate troops were, and close to Ilogbo, a town on the other bank, and which was first attacked on the advance. The Ilogi Creek here was the southern boundary of the Benin Kingdom, and running up first east and then northwards comes from close to Benin City, and was the creek from which the inhabitants got their water. From Ciri it runs in a south-westerly direction, and eventually joins the Benin River about twenty-five miles lower down from Sapele. As one goes down the Benin River all the forest land and high banks gradually disappear, and the melancholy mangrove takes the place of everything. Some twenty miles from the sea is the entrance to what is called the Forcados or Nanna’s Creek, the latter after Nanna, who until 1894, when he was smashed up and his town of Brohoemi burnt by a combined force of Naval Brigade and Niger Coast Protectorate Force, under Admiral Sir Frederick Bedford, K.C.B., was the head Jakri chief of the Benin River. This Forcados Creek is the waterway for steamers coming from the Forcados River and the sea, the bar of the Benin River being too shallow to let anything but small steamers come across it. Opposite the entrance to the Forcados Creek, which is on the left bank of the Benin River, is the entrance to the Gwatto Creek. Farther down the river, on the same side as the Gwatto Creek, i.e. the right bank of the river, are two big creeks called respectively Adabrassi and Lagos Creeks, and amongst many others one important small one leading to Brohoemi, the town of Nanna, the chief mentioned above, and, as he thought, the only way of arriving at his town, surrounded by swamps as it was, — in fact, it was actually built on a swamp. Consequently, this creek was defended by a battery of big guns mounted behind a hidden stockade, most artistically screened so as not to be seen from the creek. This battery fired on H.M.S. Alecto’s steam pinnace, which was reconnoitring up the creek, and very nearly sank her, the pinnace only reaching the Alecto in a sinking condition, and with everyone on board her, some six or seven, with the exception of her commander. Captain J. Heugh, badly wounded. Amongst these was Major Crawford, who was killed in the last fatal expedition to Benin City. Unfortunately for Nanna, the force, when they eventually attacked Brohoemi, waded through the swamp, generally waist-deep in mud, and attacked from the side Nanna least expected, and on which he had got but few of his guns trained. To return to the Benin River: on the left bank, nearly opposite the entrance to the Lagos Creek, is the Deli Creek, the route that steam launches take going to the Forcados River, but which is too narrow for steamers. Passing the Lagos Creek, and on the same bank, we come very soon to the factories and the old Vice-Consulate, which are about six miles from the mouth of the river, and which are called, as I have said, New Benin. The Government House is only a Customs and Post-office station, part of the house and most of the outbuildings having been removed to Sapele; while, of the many factories that there used to be here, only four remain used, the rest being represented by a few remains, as trade at the mouth of the river has year by year sunk to something very small. On the opposite side of the river to New Benin, and some way from the river bank up a small creek, is the town of Baterri, where Chief Dore, the head chief of the river since Nannas downfall, lives. It is built on one of the few patches of solid ground to be found hereabouts, for the whole country near the coast-line is simply a network of creeks and mangrove swamp, any villages that there are being hidden some distance away from the banks of the river, or creek, and the only entrance to which is usually some insignificant-looking little creek. It is melancholy work sometimes steering through these creeks from station to station in a launch, going hours together without seeing a sign of a human being, and nothing to look at but the depressing mangrove and swamp, and smelling nothing but the still more depressing effluvia of the mud. For many years past the only way of reaching Benin City was by Gwatto, which is about forty-five miles up the Gwatto Creek from its entrance into the Benin River. There the Gwatto Creek is about three-quarters of a mile wide, and surrounded by mangrove, but gradually one leaves that behind as the creek narrows, and when one gets to the Benin Country at Gwatto, or at Gilli Gilli, which is two or three miles nearer, one reaches once more the high banks, good solid ground, and forest country. At Gwatto the creek is only about forty or fifty yards wide, and comes down from the northwards, narrowing and narrowing the farther one gets up, till it dwindles away from the source, wherever that may be. The Gwatto Creek might be called the western boundary of the late Benin Kingdom. The boundaries on the north and east I do not know, except that somewhere to the north are a tribe called Mahins, who were supposed to be enemies of the Benins, but toward the north-east, in which direction the King must have fled, the country was open to him, being part of the possessions of the late Benin Kingdom. Away beyond is the great Yoruba land, and plenty of the Yorubas, who are great traders, and semi-Mohammedans, used to trade in the Benin Country, and I believe the Yoruba language is more or less understood in Benin City. When this part of the Protectorate has been opened up and settled, it will join the hinterland of the Lagos Colony on one side, and the possessions of the Royal Niger Company on the other
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 18:56:18 +0000
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