Book Reviews
| Published date | 01 April 1958 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1958.tb01162.x |
| Date | 01 April 1958 |
101
Book
Reviews
WEST
AFRICAN
CITY:
a
study
of tribal life in Freetown, by Michael Banton.
Oxford
University-
Press for the International African Institute; 35s;
pp.
228.
Illustrated.
'THE
theme of this study is one which is common to
many
towns on
both
sides
of
Africa-the
flow of
rural
Africans to
urban
areas, farticularly since
the
Second
World War,
and
the problems which arise
during
the
process
of
adaptation
to
the new environment,
both
administrative
and
social. Assuch, it contains
much
of
general value.
In
one sense, it is defective, as
Mr.
Banton
is
the
first to
admit,
in
that
the
amount
of
data
for the social survey essential to such a study is
limited.
The
reason for this was
that
time itselfwas limited
and
he
had
insuffi-
-cient confidence in
obtaining
accurate results
through
African assistants
who
-couldonly have
had
a
brief
period of training.
But
this defect is outweighed by
the
breadth
of scope, since
not
only
are
the
immigrant
communities studied,
but also the
rural
background from which they came.
The
general problem in African towns is to
what
extent
and
for how long
the
:social
and
administrative disruption of
the
lives of
immigrant
population should
be mitigated, before it becomes assimilated, by the creation or continuance of
tribal or quasi-tribal institutions.
Apart
from the need for good order,
the
-COntracts
which
form the basis offamily life have to be maintained,
minor
debts
and
delinquencies keep cropping up
and
something is needed to take
the
place
ofthe system
of
mutual
aid
which characterises life in
the
village. Such problems
",:ere,
and
still
are
thrown
into reliefin
the
case of Freetown by
the
nature
of
its
history, which is discussed.
The
town was founded for
the
settlement of
eman-
dpated
slaves from
England
and
America
and
grew rapidly
during
the
first
h<:lf>
of
the
nineteenth
century
as
the
home of thousands of slaves liberated from
:ships
off
the
West African coast. These people
and
their
successors,
the
Creoles
of
to-day,
adopted
Christianity
and
a
partly
Western outlook,
and
from
the
?r
st held mixed feelings
about
the
African
population
of the hinterland,
who
In any event only
came
under
British administration acentury after the first
ｾ･ｴｴｬ･ｭ･ｮｴＮ
The
effect
upon
them
of the I8g8 rising, in which
many
Creoles
who
. ad
penetrated
up-country lost their lives or property, was
not
re-assuring.
The
consistent claim
of
the
Creoles, therefore, reinforced by
the
application
-of'
the English
Common
Law
to Freetown
and
the
surrounding limited
area
of
the Colony, has been
that
immigrants to Freetown, if immigrants
there
must
be,
ｾｨｯｕｬ､
be completely assimilated.
They
should
order
their
personal lives by
the
,same
law
as themselves
and
they
should
be subject to
the
same institutions of
-administration within
the
municipality. At
the
same time a
narrow
franchise
assured
the
dominance
of
the
Creoles.
b
The
sharp
lines dividing Creole
and
non-Creole have been gradually
blurred
Ya ceI,'tain
amount
of
intermarriage, by the rise in economic
and
educational
ｾｴ｡ｴｵｳ
of
a
number
of
the
Africans
and
by conscious political
thought
directed
tWards
the
real unification
of
the
peoples
who
are
born
and
bred
in Sierra
te()ue.
But
though blurred, they remain,
and
the
effect,
among
the
immigrants
ｾｲｲ･･ｴｯｷｮ
has been to stimulate continued
attachment
towards a
tribal
way
o
Ife.The
approach
of
the
central Government
at
the beginning of
the
century
r
"'
as
to secure
the
orderly
conduct
of affairs
among
the
immigrants by
the
legal
ecog "
Ulbon of the system, which they themselves
had
developed, of
tribal
heads
102 JOURNAL OF
AFRICAN
ADMINISTRATION
in Freetown. Adozen tribes, including Krus from Liberia,
had
sufficient
repre-
sentatives to qualify for such representation. Mr. Banton traces
the
vicissitudes.
of this system in some detail from
the
earlier phase
when
the tribal heads were'
accorded
both
administrative
and
judicial powers down to
the
present when
they have been shorn of these, the legal vacuum still however being
partly
filled
by
the
adherence of the communities themselves to an organisation which meets
some of their needs.
The
study emphasises in this
and
other ways the continued existence of tribal
values
and
loyalties, aided by ready inter-communication with a not very large
interior. But
at
the same time
Mr.
Banton has
much
to say
about
modifications
of
the
social system, as for instance the change from an extended to a primary
household unit,
the
rarity
of polygamy
and
the rise of voluntary associations
of
the
nature
of friendly societies. He also has some arresting passages on
the
growth of Islam in
Freetown-equally
applicable to Sierra Leone
at
large-
both
as strengthening tribalism
and
as offering universal values
and
a social
world free from white (to whom he elsewhere adds Creole) domination.
Mr.
Banton's work in
the
field, which was financed by the Nuffield Foun-
dation, was done several years ago, in 1953,
and
so antedates
the
recent
broadening of the franchise,
both
municipal
and
parliamentary, which
cannot
but
lead to a profound change in the effective status of
the
African population
of Freetown.
To
this extent, then, his conclusions
are
out
of date,
but
the social
problems of assimilation, which
are
so fully discussed, go on.
R. de Z.
HALL
AFRICAN
DISCOVERY,
an
anthology
of
exploration by
Margery
Perham
and
.
J. Simmons.
Faber
and
Faber,
London,
1957; 30s;
pp.
280.
THIS
is the second edition of a book first published in 1942.
It
is an anthology
from
the
works of eleven British explorers of Africa
arranged
in the order in
which
the
writers first arrived in Africa,
The
period covered begins with Bruce'S
journey
to Ethiopia in 1769
and
ends with the
death
of Livingstone in 1873.
Ashort introduction precedes
the
extract of each traveller containing brief
details of their careers. A
number
of sketch maps indicate the
main
outline of
the
travellers' journeys
and
the
position of the principal places mentioned, and
ageneral
map
at
the
end
of
the
book brings the smaller maps into relation with
each
other
and
with the continent
of
Africa as a whole.
There
are
a
number
of
illustrations reproduced from
the
original works
and
these include such well
known sketches as
"The
Slavers Revenging their Losses",
"The
Manyuerns
Massacre"
and
"Livingstone Crossing a
River"
from Livingstone's Last
Journals,
"Dr.
Livingstone, IPresume", from Stanley's How I
Found
Livingstone,
"Encounter
with a
Lion"
from Livingstone's
Missionary
Travels,
"King
Mtesa's
Levee"
and
"King
Mtesa Reviews his
Troops"
from
Speke's
Journal,
and
"The
Last
Charge"
from Baker's Albert N'Tamea", .
In
the
introduction to
the
book Miss Perham, who with
Mr.
Simmons
IS,
joint
editor
of
this anthology, explains
that
the
only criterion used for the
selection was
that
of
"readability"
and
the
passages picked
out
are
the
oneS
which struck
her
and
Mr.
Simmons
most-for
agreat variety of reasons; sheer
literary merit,
the
intrinsic interest of
the
subject, the
dramatic
character
of the
episode,
the
revelation
of
human
character.
BOOK
REVIEWS
103
There
are
subjects for all tastes in this anthology whether it be exploring
Ethiopia with Bruce
and
discovering the sources of the Blue Nile, sailing down
the Niger with
Mungo
Parks, or encountering a lion
and
innumerable other
hazards with David Livingstone during his epic journeys in Central Africa; or
an expedition to
Harar
with Sir
Richard
Burton, the discovery of Lake Victoria
with
Speke or encountering an elephant with
the
greatest big-game
hunter
.of his age, Sir Samuel White Baker, who during the course of his travels in
Africa discovered Lake Albert.
One
idea dominates acollection of this
kind-the
hunger for discovery
and
as one reads these pages of epic endeavour one
cannot
but
be conscious
of
a
driving force which
made
these men endure
the
physical
and
mental
miseries
of Africa a second
and
athird time,
and
the driving passion
and
ruthlessness
with which they pursued their purpose.
The
classic illustration of this is Living-
stone's decision to refuse
the
escape which Stanley came to offer him. Theirs
Was
an amalgam of a spirit of adventure, aprofound thirst for knowledge,
and
adedication,
and
it is
due
to
men
such as these
that
civilization was able to
penetrate into Africa.
Of
great interest to the student of Africa are the descriptions of Africa before
the coming of the white
man.
Two
distinct spheres are covered by the book.
1'0
the
north
were
the
countries which civilization in the form of Islam
had
touched,
and
to the north-east
cut
off
from these lands on her fortress of
rnountains stood Abyssinia,
the
outpost of another great world religion where
Europe
and
Asia
had
fused with Africa.
Here
Burton found churches, courts
and
Kings, literacy
and
firearms,
and
a sense of nationalism
and
an ancient
Christian
history-and
the most dreadful savagery.
Further
south
and
down
to the missionary outposts of the Cape was the great block of Africa
cut
off for
geographical reasons (which
Mr.
Simmons in his introduction discusses in
detail) from
the
civilized world.
Here
travellers
had
to deal with scores of
separate tribes with all their variety of customs, languages
and
organizations
but
though savagery was widespread
and
human
life was held in low respect
alrnost everywhere there was a fully functioning society which
met
all the
main
needs
of
man.
.
This hook is a must for all who
are
interested in Africa.
In
one volume is
ｃｾｮｴ｡ｩｮ･､
the highlights
of
the story of
the
discovery of Africa
and
it is a
StIrring tale which it has to tell.
A.
S. B.
"rilE
BRITISH
IN
MOMBASA,
1824-1826, by Sir
John
Gray.
Macmillan,
London,
1957;
7s 6d; pp. 216. (Transactions of the
Kenya
History Society, Vol. I).
IN the 1820'S
trade
with
India
was still
the
main
interest of Britain's policy in
the
Indian
Ocean
and
her
rivals
had
been
more
or less eliminated. Mauritius
had been
captured
in 18IO as
part
of
the
process of elimination of
French
inter-
ference
and
the
security
of
interests in
India
had
long
demanded
foreign
relations
with
India's
neighbours: as far as this story is concerned
that
meant
Ａｾ･Ｎ
Persian Gulf. But if commerce was
the
primary
stimulus, the spreading of
c1\Tilization
was constantly in
the
minds
of
administrators
and
above all
the
ｾ｢ｯｬｩｴｩｯｮ
of
the
slave
trade
had
become apurpose which English
humanitarian
ｾｳｾｩｮ｣ｴｳ
steadfastly pursued. Mauritius
under
the
French
had
been largely
ullt up on slavery, as
had
the
West Indies
under
the English,
but
the
English
104
JOURNAL
OF
AFRICAN
ADMINISTRATION
governors in Mauritius
did
all they could to prevent fresh importations
and
had
recently secured atreaty from
the
ruler
of
'Uman
forbidding
trade
with
Christians.
The
abolition
had
no stronger supporters
than
the
Navy, who often
felt frustrated
at
the
limitations
under
which they worked.
The
East African coast
and
the islands
off
it were
Arab
possessions
and
the
dominant
power
there was
that
of
'Uman,
with which
the
Government
of
India
had
long been in friendly relations,
but
relations
with
the rulers in South
Arabia were
not
exclusively undertaken by the authorities in Bombay
and
the
Residents in the Gulf: the Governor
of
Mauritius corresponded with
them
and
sent envoys as their circumstances
made
necessary.
The
points of view were
of course different, as
the
subject of Sir
John
Gray's book illustrates,
and
final
decisions as to
what
the
British line should be on
any
matter
rested with
the
ministers in London. .
It
was in these circumstances
that
in 1824
Captain
Owen
accepted the
invitation of
the
Arabs in Mombasa to assume a Protectorate over
the
Island.
He sought approval for this through the Admiralty
and
the
Governor
of
Mauritius,
and
though
the
British Government declined it as fast as commun-
ications allowed, they
did
not
give very precise orders
about
it so
that
it lasted
in effect from
February
1824 to
July
1826.
The
story was one which interested me when I first
read
Captain
Owen's
Narrative
(published in 1833) in
Pemba
in 1923.
Later
in Mauritius I
unearthed
despatches
and
papers relative to the story in
the
Secretariat
and
in
the
archives
and
as I
had
been for some time in correspondence
with
the
late
Professor
Coupland on
the
history of East Africa, I gave
him
copies. These formed
much
of
the
background of his story of Owen's Protectorate which he dealt
with
in
Chapter
VIn
and
IX
of East Africa and its
Invaders.
These chapters
have
now provided some
of
the
material for this excellent
little book by Sir
John
Gray, to whose careful research
Zanzibar
and
Uganda
already owe so much.
Sir
John
has pursued
the
subject further
and
amongst
the
many
things he
has
brought
to light perhaps
the
most interesting is
the
day-to-day
diary
of
Lieutenant Emery's activities during his
brief
governorship of Mombasa. With
practically nothing except the shadowy
but
influential presence
of
the
British
Navy, which
might
turn
up
from time to time, to reinforce his own indomitable
courage
and
integrity, Emery
made
aremarkable showing despite his lack
of
experience in dealing with
Arab
intrigues.
The
Africans barely emerge into the
picture,for Owen's Protectorate was only geographically
part
of
the
story
of
East
African history.
It
was in fact irrelevant to it. Whether from
an
Arab,
rather
than
aEuropean,
point
of
view
the
'Uman
had
any
real claim on
Mombasa
is
doubtful.
The
most
that
can
be said is
that
at
the
time it was in
an
area
which
the
British were
prepared
to regard as one in which
the
Arabs could be left
to fight
out
their own fatal
and
complex destiny.
The
EastAfrican coast
had
been aregion
of
Arab
colonisation since a
number
of centuries B.C.
Then
it was
under
Yemeni influence; in
the
seventh century'
'Umanis
began to migrate there. All of
them
carried their feuds, religious
and
tribal, along
with
them.
About
1804
"Mombasa
was
an
independent Princip·
ality governed- by a
Chief
of its own styling himself
'Sultan'
and
paying nO
tribute whatever to
Muscat
...
After
the
death
of
Sultan
bin
Seif
the
sword
appears the only tenure by which
the
Chiefs of
Oman
have held
Mombasa
and
it
may
be
doubted
whether
they
have ever fairly obtained possession, even by
violent means, since
that
time".
BOOK
REVIEWS
105
In
accordance with usual
Arab
practice
and
thought,
the
Mazrui
chiefs in
Mombasa sought protection, even to cede their Island, merely to protect them-
selves from a more powerful foe. As is clear in
the
story told by Sir
John
Gray
they
did
not
really intend to be ruled by the British.
If
the
flag alone
had
been
enough
that
would
have
been
all they wanted. British protection of this kind is
all
that
Arabs, including
'Uman,
want
in South Arabia today.
They
want
it in
the South-West to be protected from the Zeidis of Yemen, in
the
South-East
from the Saudis.
The
Iman
of todayseeks Saudi support to
maintain
his indepen-
dence from
the
Sultan. Independence
and
nationalism in
Arabia
have
mean-
ings peculiar to Arabs
and
this is often misunderstood by us.
This study by Sir
John
Gray
is of
great
historical interest
and
it brings
out
in
striking fashion the similarity of
the
problems of
that
time with those confront-
ing us today. H.
I.
I1ANDBOOK
FOR
COUNCIL
CLERKS,
by B. V. Fox. Oxford University
Press,
1957;
12S
6d in
U.K.
only; pp. I I
I.
VARIOUS
reasons
are
given for the general practice among local authorities in
the United Kingdom of appointing solicitors as their clerks.
It
may
be a relic
of early days, when
the
local solicitor seemed
the
most obvious person to
act
as
part-time Clerk,
just
as
the
local Bank
Manager
seemed the obvious person to
act as part-time Treasurer.
It
may
be
that
it is convenient to have the law on
the premises, since so
much
of a local authority's work has legal implications.
Or
finally it
may
be
thought
that
since there is no recognised profession of
administration, a legal training is
the
best foundation for
the
practice of
the
administrative act.
.Whatever
the
reason for
the
practice, the work of a Clerk is primarily
admin-
Istrative
not
legal
and
it is common knowledge
that
the Clerk is the hinge on
which
turn
both
the conciliar
and
executive arms of a local authority.
Local government in Africa has suffered
and
is still suffering from the lack
of a trained cadre of African administrators
and
also of local practitioners
who
might be called on to fill the
gap
temporarily.
The
way
in which
the
key post
of Clerk has in
many
cases perforce been filled has
brought
in its
train
some
unfortunate misconceptions:
that
the
work is a superior
brand
of
clerical work,
that
the
Clerk is
the
henchman
of
the
council,
that
he is
the
absolute boss
of
the executive
arm.
It
will take a long time to eradicate these misconceptions where they exist
and to establish the right sort of working conventions. But
the
time will be
shortened
if
the
Clerks for
whom
this book is written use it as their working
manual.
They
cannot
go wrong if they follow the rule of
thumb
methods
described by the
author
with
both
precept
and
example
and,
by being able
to
qUote
chapter
and
verse, they should gain confidence when they feel they must
take a
stand
on some
particular
matter.
West Africa is now beginning to produce. aliterature of its own on local
iovernment
and,
though
much
that
is described in this book, e.g. the procedure
ｯｾ
preparation of
the
agenda,
the
formation of committees, the
keeping
of
ｾｉｮｵｴ･ｳＬ
is
standard
practice
the
author
has filtered instruction through first-
I and experience of West African conditions.
There
the councils
are
created
by
nstruments issued
under
an enabling ordinance; there is provision for a
certain
106
JOURNAL
OF
AFRICAN
ADMINISTRATION
number
of seats on a council to be reserved for traditional (as opposed to
elected) members; sometimes there is provision for
both
apresident (usually
the senior chief) as well as a business chairman.
What
is to
happen
when both
the
president
and
the
chairman
are
present
at
ameeting
may
well have given
the
Clerk a
headache
in the past,
but
need
not
any
longer if he follows the
author's
suggestion.
A full
and
useful description is given of
the
process of forming committees
and
settling
their
terms of reference, a
matter
not
always covered by councils
in sufficient detail. Some readers, however,
may
think
that
the
Clerk
might
do
alittle
more
than
the
author
allows
him
in order to stop the 'packing' of
committees by
the
majority
party
on a council.
Another specially useful section tells the Clerk how to
act
in relation to the
technical departments of a council when they
are
headed
by qualified
and
unqualified persons respectively.
A good index completes the book in which there
are
only two subjects
treated less fully
than
they might have been.
One
is
the
'packing' of com-
mittees, already mentioned:
the
other
is
the
procedure for making contracts.
c. A. G. W.
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