Book Reviews
| Date | 01 October 1958 |
| Published date | 01 October 1958 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1958.tb01189.x |
Book
Reviews
ADAMAWA-PAST
AND
PRESENT,
by A. H. M. Kirk-Greene. Oxford
University
Press,
Loudon,
1958; 35s; pp. 230.
EVEN
from the earliest days of the British connection two of
Northern
Nigeria's
twelve provinces have never failed to cast a lasting spell on all
who
have
served
within their borders;
and
one of these is
Adamawa.
Despite its climate, despite
its inaccessibility, despite
the
fact
that,
in this
more
recent age
of
increasing
amenities, distant
Adamawa
has always seemed to be
at
the
end
of
the
queue,
it has continued to claim
and
retain
the
affections
of
all who have known
the
sweltering
heat
of the Benue Valley
and
the rock-strewn hills which lie
beyond.
Mr.
Kirk-Greene has described the
land
and
its
many
peoples
and
their
colourful
past
in fascinating detail.
To
all
who
have ever served in
Northern
Nigeria his book is a
mine
of varied treasure
and,
though
this treasure is not
always easy to locate because of the
arrangement
of the subject
matter,
it is
difficult to know how,
with
such a wealth
of
material
the rival claims
of
time,
place
and
subject could be satisfactorily adjusted in so smallacompass. Equally,
perhaps
the
more
unexpected
the
gem
the
greater
the
thrill
of
discovery.
To
anyone
with
aknowledge
and
love of Africa there is
much
of
absorbing interest
in
the
book,a
greater
diversity in fact
than
one
can
usually hope to find assembled
between
the
covers
of
a single volume.
Here
are the tribulations
of
the old
explorers,
the
fire
and
sword of the Fulani wars, the intrigues
and
treachery
that
beset
the
officials of
the
Niger
Company,
the raid
and
counter-raid
of the
Cameroons
Campaign,
the
prolonged
attempts
to come to terms with recal-
citrant
hill pagans dispensing rocks
and
loaded bee-hives on all intruders with
equal
impartiality.
1'1r. Kirk-Greene has
drawn
from a galaxy
of
sources,
French
and
German
as well as English
and
from old
Fulani
manuscripts as well.
There
is
much
fascinating reading in these old documents
and
diaries.
It
is interesting to find,
for instance,
that
as long ago as 1899 L. H. Moseley, the Niger
Company
Agent,
felt
that
'here
was a rich country lying
perdu
for lack
of
aTrans-African Rail-
way'
and
that
the
other
major
handicap
to development was
the
fact
that
'the
pagan
tribes
had
no
opportunity
of
making
headway'
because
of
'oppression by
Fulani'
themselves
'not
workers'.
Today,
half
acentury later,
that
long awaited
Railway to
the
coast looks like becoming areality
and
there is even renewed
talk of a rail link with the
Sudan,
while
north
of the Benue, in Northern
Adamawa,
the
grandchildren
of those oppressed pagans have developed into
a virile
and
populous
group
of
peoples whose rich lands offer prospects
of
wealth
from cotton
and
groundnuts
comparable,
when
the
railway arrives, even to the
great
wealth
of
the
Kano
plain.
The
very full
account
of
the
devoted work
of
the
Christian Missions, so often
on unpromising soil, will be of
particular
interest to those who
admire
and
support
their
endeavours
but
are
only dimly
aware
of
the
nature
and
scope of
their operations.
Adamawa
is an excellent
example-Bornu
on its
northern
borders being
another-of
the
sad effects of
the
international dissection of Africa which took
place
at
the
turn
of
the
century.
Had
less violence been done to history
and
had
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