Without having had opportunities for personal observation,
and the only part of Africa I have had these opportunities in has
been from Sierra Leone to Angola; and the reports from South Africa
show that an entirely different, and a most unhealthy state of
affairs exists there from its invasion by mixed European
nationalities, with individuals of a low type, greedy for wealth.
West African conditions are no more like South African conditions
than they are like Indian. The missionary party on the whole have
gravely exaggerated both the evil and the extent of the liquor
traffic in West Africa. I make an exception in favour of the late
superintendent of the Wesleyan mission on the Gold Coast, the Rev.
Dennis Kemp, who had enough courage and truth in him to stand up at
a public meeting in Liverpool, on July 2nd, 1896, and record it as
his opinion that, "the natives of the Gold Coast were remarkably
abstemious; but spirits were, 'he believed,' of no benefit to the
natives, and they would be better without them." I have quoted the
whole of the remark, as it is never fair to quote half a man says on
any subject, but I do not agree with the latter half of it, and the
Gold Coast natives are not any more abstemious, if so much so, as
other tribes on the Coast. I have elsewhere {493} attempted to show
that the drink-traffic is by no means the most important factor in
the mission failure on the West Coast, but that it has been used in
an unjustifiable way by the missionary party, because they know the
cry against alcohol is at present a popular one in England, and it
has also the advantage of making the subscribers at home regard the
African as an innocent creature who is led away by bad white men,
and therefore still more interesting and more worthy, and in more
need of subscriptions than ever. I should rather like to see the
African lady or gentleman who could be "led away" - all the leading
away I have seen on the Coast has been the other way about.
I do not say every missionary on the West Coast who makes untrue
statements on this subject is an original liar; he is usually only
following his leaders and repeating their observations without going
into the evidence around him; and the missionary public in England
and Scotland are largely to blame for their perpetual thirst for
thrilling details of the amount of Baptisms and Experiences among
the people they pay other people to risk their lives to convert, or
for thrilling details of the difficulties these said emissaries have
to contend with. As for the general public who swallow the
statements, I think they are prone, from the evidence of the evils
they see round them directly arising from drink, to accept as true -
without bothering themselves with calm investigation - statements of
a like effect regarding other people. I have no hesitation in
saying that in the whole of West Africa, in one week, there is not
one-quarter the amount of drunkenness you can see any Saturday night
you choose in a couple of hours in the Vauxhall Road; and you will
not find in a whole year's investigation on the Coast, one-
seventieth part of the evil, degradation, and premature decay you
can see any afternoon you choose to take a walk in the more densely-
populated parts of any of our own towns. I own the whole affair is
no business of mine; for I have no financial interest in the liquor
traffic whatsoever. But I hate the preying upon emotional sympathy
by misrepresentation, and I grieve to see thousands of pounds wasted
that are bitterly needed by our own cold, starving poor. I do not
regard the money as wasted because it goes to the African, but
because such an immense percentage of it does no good and much harm
to him.
It is customary to refer to the spirit sent out to West Africa as
"poisonous" and as raw alcohol. It is neither. I give an analysis
of a bottle of Van Hoytima's trade-gin, which I obtained to satisfy
my own curiosity on the point.
"ANALYSIS OF SAMPLE OF TRADE-GIN.
"With reference to the bottle of the above I have the honour to
report as follows: -
It contains - Per cent.
Absolute alcohol . . . . . 39.35
Acidity expressed as acetic acid . 0.0068
Ethers expressed as acetic acid . 0.021
Aldehydes. . . . Present in small quantity.
Furfural . . . . Ditto ditto
Higher alcohols . . Ditto ditto
"The only alcohol that can be estimated quantitatively is Ethyl
Alcohol.
"There is no methyl, and the higher alcohols, as shown by Savalie's
method, only exist in traces. The spirit is flavoured by more than
one essential oil, and apparently oil of juniper is one of these
oils.
"The liquid contains no sugar, and leaves but a small extract. In
my opinion the liquid essentially consists of a pure distilled
spirit flavoured with essential oils.
"Of course no attempt to identify these oils in the quantity sent,
viz., 632 c.c. (one bottle) was made. The ethers are returned as
ethyl acetate, but from fractional distillation amyl acetate was
found to be present.
"I have the honour to be, etc.,
(Signed) "G. H. ROBERTSON.
"Fellow of the Chemical Society,
"Associate of the Institute of Chemistry."
In a subsequent letter Mr. Robertson observed that he had been
"assisted in making the above analysis by an expert in the chemistry
of alcohols, who said that the present sample differed in no
material particulars from, and was neither more nor less deleterious
to health than, gin purchased in different parts of London and
submitted to analysis."
In addition to this analysis I have also one of Messrs.
