As we ride home to the Residency two miles out of the town, uppermost in the mind at least of one of us is the fascination of this strange land, with its blending of Africa and the East, its barbaric displays, its industrial life, its wonderful agricultural development—above all, perhaps, the _tour de force_ of governing it with a handful of White officials and a handful of native troops. PART II SOUTHERN NIGERIA [Illustration: MAP OF SOUTHERN NIGERIA SHOWING THE THREE PROVINCES.] CHAPTER I NIGERIA’S CLAIM UPON PUBLIC ATTENTION Nigeria is a geographical expression applied to a territory in West Africa which by successive stages, covering a period of more than one hundred years, under circumstances widely differing in character and incentive, and almost wholly as the result of the initial enterprise of British explorers and merchants, has passed under the protection of Britain. With the discovery of Nigeria are associated exploits which for romantic interest and personal achievements hold a prominent place in British exploring records. The angry swirl of the Bussa rapids must ever recall the well-nigh superhuman achievements of Mungo Park, as the marvellous creeks and channels of the Niger Delta evoke the memory of Richard Lander[2] and John Beecroft. You cannot visit the Court of the Emir of Kano without remembering Clapperton’s account of the awkward religious conundrums with which the gallant sailor, the first European to enter that fascinating African city, was amazed and confounded by one of the present Emir’s predecessors; nor ride over the wide and dusty road into the heart of Hausaland without thinking that but for Joseph Thomson’s diplomatic tact in negotiating the early treaties with its potentates, which were to pave the way for the statesmanship of a Taubman-Goldie and the organising genius of a Lugard, Nigeria would to-day be the brightest jewel in the West African Empire of the French. The spirit of MacGregor Laird, the hardy pioneer who laid the first foundations of British commerce in this country seems to hover over the broad bosom of the Niger. The marvellous panorama that unfolds itself before your eyes at Lokoja (the confluence of the Niger with its tributary the Benue) conjures up the heroism and tragedy of the Allan-Trotter expedition; while to negotiate in a dug-out the currents that eddy round the famous _ju-ju_ rock—still termed Baikie’s Seat—is a reminder that somewhere in the blue depths below lie the remains of Dr. Baikie’s ill-fated _Day-spring_. This land is, indeed, a land rich in heroic memories to men of British blood. It is the more astonishing that so little appears to be known by the general public either of its past or, what is much more important, of the many complex problems connected with its administration. * * * * *