s and Stations are
commanded by Post-Commanders. All these may be described as civil
administrative officials who, subject to the general system and laws
have practical control over more or less limited areas. The officers of
the Force Publique rank as Commandant, Captain, Lieutenant and
Under-Lieutenant, and there are also several white non-commissioned
officers. The natives rank as sergeants, corporals and privates.

On July 8th we arrive at Sekondi, Gold Coast Colony. The town from the
sea seems to consist of white houses and huts with the usual red roofs.
On a hillock near the shore is an old Dutch fort now used as a
signalling station, and on the left, half way up a hill, an hotel has
been built. The place is not very pretty or attractive-looking for there
is not much colour and no mountains are visible. We anchor some distance
from the beach and several open boats at once put off. These are each
propelled by ten or twelve natives, who sit on the sides of the boat and
ply their paddles, lustily singing as they work together and with a
will. The paddles are shaped somewhat like those of a Canadian canoe,
except that the blade is star shaped. All the cargo is swung overboard
into these boats or canoes as they are called, and the passengers are
lowered in a kind of chair. As there is a heavy ground swell running,
the canoes are bobbing up and down like corks alongside. The chair is
suspended in mid air and lowered rapidly as the canoe washes up, while
all hope that it and its occupant will descend at the right moment.

One of the passengers was an English officer, Captain Wheeler, with whom
we had played many games of deck cricket on the voyage. First his
regulation seventy cubic feet of baggage was lowered--an extraordinary
amount, for no one without the aid of a slide rule and logarithms could
possibly calculate it--and then he himself made the perilous
descent--without a ducking. He would next have 240 miles of train
journey to Coomassie and then a walk--or rather a journey in a
hammock--for another 300 miles to his station.

We now travel parallel to the Gold Coast which looks hot and uninviting,
for there are but few patches of green or trees until Cape Coast Castle
is reached. Here is a fort which must have impressed natives and slave
dealers greatly in the past, a few houses and an imposing looking
church dotted in the red sand. The whole line of the Coast here,
somewhat recalls the Atlantic sea board of Geor