A NATURAL BRIDGE ON THE ROAD TO GBANGBAMA 43 A NATIVE VILLAGE 46 PALM FOREST, SIERRA LEONE 51 A NATIVE VILLAGE 56 A SELF-CONFESSED CANNIBAL 63 A WATER-SIDE VILLAGE 66 HINTERLAND TYPES 71 WEST AFRICAN SOLDIERS 74 THE PRISONERS OF A NATIVE CHIEFTAINESS, CRACKING 79 PALM-KERNELS LADIES OF THE SIERRA LEONE HINTERLAND 83 A NATIVE CHIEFTAINESS 85 EMPIRE DAY IN FREETOWN 88 WHERE HAWKINS MAY HAVE LANDED FOR SLAVES 90 THRESHING RICE, SIERRA LEONE PROTECTORATE 93 A NATIVE HUNTER 96 PICKING PALM-KERNELS 99 THE HIGHLAND OF SIERRA LEONE, WITH HILL STATION IN THE 104 FOREGROUND BUNDU GIRLS AND BUNDU DEVILS 111 COTTON TREE STATION, 9 A.M. BUNGALOW TRAIN, FREETOWN 115 FREETOWN FROM THE HARBOUR 117 VIEW FROM GOVERNMENT HOUSE, FREETOWN 125 [Illustration: VIEW OF FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE.] HUMAN LEOPARDS _PART I_ CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY That there were cannibals in the Hinterland of Sierra Leone in former days appears from the observations[1] of William Finch, who visited Sierra Leone in August, 1607. This accurate observer states, “To the South of the Bay, some fortie or fiftie leagues distant within the Countrey, inhabiteth a very fierce people which are man-eaters, which sometimes infest them.” This clearly points to the Mende country, where the Human Leopard Society was lately flourishing. Finch does not, however, refer to anything but pure cannibalism. In 1803 Dr. Thomas Winterbottom, the Colonial Surgeon, Sierra Leone, wrote an account of the native Africans in the neighbourhood of Sierra Leone, and, after quoting and criticizing various authorities who had alleged the existence of cannibalism in different parts of West Africa, states (vol. i. p. 166) as follows: