I afterwards had an opportunity of
seeing the ammunition, and was much struck by a tub of black mud, which
they told me was gunpowder. The Ashantis at least keep theirs dry.
The dispensary appeared equally well found. For some weeks there was a
native assistant; then Dr. Roulston came, and, after a few days, was
ordered off at a moment's notice to the remotest possible station. He had
no laudanum, no Dover's powders, no chlorodyne, no Warburg; and, when
treating M. Dahse for a burst vein, he was compelled to borrow styptics
from our store. This style of economy is very expensive. To state the case
simply, officials last one year instead of two.
The late Captain P. D. O'Brien, District-commissioner of Axim, did the
honours, showing us the only 'antiquity' in the place, the tomb of a Dutch
governor, with a rudely cut inscription set in the eastern wall:--
WILLEM
SCHOORWAS
COMAD. OP AXEM
1659.
Amongst the slave-garrison of twenty-five Hausas I found a Wadai-man,
Sergeant Abba Osman, who had not quite forgotten his Arabic. Several
Moslems also appeared about the town, showing that the flood of El-Islam
is fast setting this way.
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