roceeded to Anamaboe. This rapid arrival of reinforcements induced the
king to repudiate the action of his envoys, but affairs were still in a
very critical situation, and much alarm prevailed in the colony. Early
in March, Lieutenant-Colonels Niven and Smith and Major White arrived
from England, bringing with them letter A Company from Sierra Leone. On
the 18th of March, five companies of the 2nd West India Regiment arrived
in the hired transport _Humber_. Negotiations were protracted till
April, when an embassy arrived from Coomassie, and the difficulty was
finally settled. On the 2nd of May, the head-quarters, with A, F, and G
Companies, returned to Sierra Leone, leaving B, C, and H at Cape Coast
Castle and Anamaboe. In February, 1882, C Company also proceeded to
Sierra Leone.

It was intended at the termination of the African tour of the regiment,
in January, 1883, to reduce the garrisons in West Africa from six to
three companies, and the steamship _Bolivar_ was chartered to carry out
the relief in two trips. That vessel, however, was wrecked off the
Cobbler's Reef, at Barbados, and H.M.S. _Tyne_ was sent in her place.
The latter embarked H Company at Cape Coast Castle on the 6th of
February, 1883, and F and G Companies at Sierra Leone on the 14th, all
three proceeding to Jamaica under the command of Major C.J.L. Hill. On
the return of the _Tyne_ to West Africa with three companies of the 2nd
West India Regiment, the head-quarters and remaining three companies of
the 1st West India Regiment, at Cape Coast Castle and Sierra Leone, were
embarked on the 1st and 11th of April respectively, and sailed for
Jamaica under the command of Captain Ellis, arriving at their
destination on the 28th of April. On the 5th of May, B, G, and F
Companies embarked in the _Tyne_, the first two for Honduras and the
third for Nassau. On the conclusion of the inter-island trooping, the
_Tyne_ proceeded with the head-quarters and three companies of the 2nd
West India Regiment to West Africa, the Government having, in
consequence of threatened complications with Ashanti, abandoned their
scheme of reducing the African garrisons.

The distribution of the 1st West India Regiment is now (May, 1883):
Head-quarters and three companies (A, C, and H) at Jamaica, two (B and
G) in Honduras, one (F) in Nassau, and three (D, E, and I) in Demerara.

APPENDIX.

SUCCESSION OF HONORARY COLONELS.

Major-General John Whyte