Abstract
THE major portion of this work is devoted to a description of the native rising in the Sierra Leone Protectorate in 1898. Many examples are given of the hideous tortures with which the natives murdered those natives and European women and children who fell into their hands. But only those who have heard from actual word of mouth of those who had been through the insurrection can fully realise the hellish cruelty of the native. These chapters should be read by those who forget or do not know of what diabolical acts the native is capable. They should be remembered by those who nowadays urge us to “take the native with us” in our reforms. Justice to the native the Englishman will always measure out, but it will be long before the native can be treated as our social, intellectual, or moral equal. While we must not forget these terrible traits in the native character, we may yet do full justice to his many admirable points, and Captain Wallis's tribute to the men of the native frontier force who remained loyal throughout the rising is nobly deserved. It is well, too, that a book of this kind should have been written, recording, as it does, individual acts of bravery and heroic defences under the terrible conditions of the West African climate.
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S., J. Sierra Leone 1 . Nature 69, 153–154 (1903). https://doi.org/10.1038/069153a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/069153a0