LIFE IN TOGOLAND

Evening Star, Issue 21880, 17 November 1934, Page 2

LIFE IN TOGOLAND

REAL ADVENTURE STORIES One of the most interesting official publications of recent years is the British ■ Government’s report to the League of Nations on the administration of Togoland, under the British mandate/ for the year 1933, recently issued by the Colonial Office. It reads • like an enthralling travel book, full of colour and with not a little adventure, ’ among which vital facts with regard to the territory find fitting place. The administration of Togoland by the Government of the Gold Coast is described, and liow one or two British officials, without a military force to help them, have begun the reorganisation of this vast area is fully explained. Some idea of the magnitude of the task can be gauged from the'almost casual remark that “ in the northern section it ip a matter for congratulation that peace remained unbroken throughout ■ the year. Even the refractory Konkomba avoided making raids on their warlike neighbours. . “ Organised attacks are now things of the past, and the only likelihood of a breach of the peace is during the celebration of a funeral custom, or othernative ceremony, when the volatile nature with which all primitive Africans are endowed- becomes so aroused that a single word may be the spark which sets up a conflagration. CONCEPTION OF GOD. This Konkomba tribe has an interesting conception of God. “.One of the stories,” it is stated, “ draws the conclusion that O-mborr (the Supreme Deity) left the earth to the manageirient of bis servants, the Tsature gods (H-wal), who, according- to some beliefs, are served by subordinate li r wals —i.e;, the a-naadj-liwal or oyadja-liwal (ancestral deities) —and there seems little doubt that the idea of a Universal Deity far away and unapproachable, except” through' his servants the li-wals, i« indigenous to the Konkomba. “ In all the tribes He is known as j O-mfcorr or O-in-mbo’or,/ except ; the Komba, who follow the DagombaMoshi root, and know Him as Ewee. ' O-mboor definitely lives above, and is therefore not to he approached directly. “ In spite of the fact that the word O-mboor has no connection with the word for sun, O-mboor is identified with the sun. A single instance is enough to prove this. The Dagomha regard an eclipse of the moon at a quarrel between the sun and the moon (Vfuntan), and not between Na-wuni fGod) -and the moon, although the roots of Navvuni and Wuntan are the same. One would expect the Konkomba to say that the sun catches the moon, as the Dagomha native does; but, on the contrary, he says that God catches the moon.” THE NATIVE MARKET. Here is a picture of a native market; •“ Everyone is selling something, sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of little piles of peppers, kolanuts, salt,medicines, or native ornaments or jewellery. The chatter is Incessant, and the various smells of cooked foods , are allpervading. In a quiet corner a grace- ■ fill Fulani ' girl; her hair .plaited into fantastic shapes and marvellous coif- - furecl, demurely sits in- front of her calabash of milk and curds. Here small, nude, fat childeh scamper hap- - pily about in'spite of the vigorous protests of their mothers, while over there a knot of young girls; with their heads together, busily slander in her absence . the belle who' has just succeeded in win-' ning the most eligible young man in the town.” An almost lyrical note is contained in one passage, unusual for a Government report: “ Now the sun has set, but over a distant roof rises the moon at the full; the children, now at last released from their labours, scamper off happily to play games, and childish laughter echoes throughout the village. The whole countryside has suddenly become transformed-, for the rays of the moon change drab-looking hutments into fairy dwellings, while the deep purple shadows of overhanging trees complete a picture of fantastic beauty. Soon the laughter of children dies down, the old men have smoked their last pipe, and everyone retires to sleep, but still, above the whirr of the cicada, in the far distance there is ever to be heard the ceaseless heating of tom-toms sending out messages for all to hear.” RESULTS OF BRITISH RULE. There is a word about the great improvement which has been effected by British officials in the planning and - construction of villages, and the lifting of the social life of the natives to a higher plane. ; “Social progress,” it is remarked, •“ is perhaps in its essence the result of moral plus material progress; and just so far and no further have the Togoland people advanced socially. The West African has ever been characterised by a broad tolerance toward innovation, and this attitude of mind has formed the basis of the remarkably adaptive reaction of the Togoland African in the face of the onrush of Western civilisation—a phenomenon which required him to surmount, practically at a leap, n gap which it required our ancestors centuries to bridge. “ Aeroplanes and the wireless are to him nothing marvellous; for how should they be so, when the dire affliction of yaws, so resistent to all indig- ; ' enous medicaments, yields with magic swiftness to the prick of a needle in the hands of a skilled physician? Along such channels is the policy of the Government directed, and, while fhe African may be able to conform with each phase of modern life with which he is brought into contact .without

casting off: his own institutions, the real hope lies in their characteristics of the African himself. There are qualities of virility, of cheerfulness, and. of adaptability about him which make it difficult to be gloomy about bis future.” BELIEF ,1N WITCHCRAFT. The report tells tht the Konkomba is a victim to extreme beliefs in witchcraft. will seek out and kill a supposed wizard (frequently disclose). through dreams), and takes delight in seizing women from other villages, preferably villages in French mandated territory. v. “ They fully realise, however,” the author remarks, “that in many of their escapades they are offending against the white man’s code, and after achieving their purpose walk into Yendi headquarters to _ surrender themselves. Their attitude is; ‘ I have done what. is necessary to show that I am a man. now let the white man do what he likes with me.’ ” The section on general administration »is probably the most important section in the report. The German policy was to break up the tribes into small, units. The British administration soon realised that no progress was likely to be made in the administrative local services if tribes were divided up into innumerable small units, and the report shows the progress made in the matter of native administration, especially by the native Treasury established in 1932.