A WEST AFRICAN FACTORY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2032, 16 July 1885, Page 4

A WEST AFRICAN FACTORY.

Thk name " factoiy," as applied to these trading establishim nts m West Africa, is rather a misnomer, nnd sugcests to the English mind a hideons buck building of •ever.il stoned, with probably three or four tall chimneys belching forth \olunies of black finokc. Nothing could be mote unlike the reality, l'lio West Alncan factory consists usually of a one-storied house, surrounded by a verandah or pin//a, and standing in the midst of so enclosure. Nothing i« mauuftitmcd in these places ; and thoy ait>, whin all is aaid, shop* in which cotton punts, rum. gin, powder, beads, and cheap muskets are bartered for native piodiHT, and sometimes sold. The tradci s, however, bpeak ©f themselves ai iiierelmntH, and tlioug'i they will sell anything down to a penny worth of rum, would consider themsehes greatly insulted if called shopkeepers. Tne gtound floor of the building contains the shop and stock in-tiaile, the agent ami his clerks live above, and the casks of palm oil and bags of palm kernels are stored up in sheds in the yard ready for shipment. There is no busy hum of workpeople. Perhaps a native will arrive at the factory with a canoe full of kigs of palm oil; he sa nut era up to the house, h»s rmn lavished upon him 4*> cruute a genet oua spiut; aud after a tijrjc— for be does nothing in a huriy — he mentions that he has flot bo much oil to dispose of, provided that he c.in get in exchange bo many cutlasses, so much powd*t, *irl so on. Tbcn » coftple of Kroomen la/.ily roll the kega up from the teach, gauge them, examine the quality of the oil, and in the coui.se of an hour or ao report progress to thr employer, the agent. After this a little haggling, such as the climate has Itft the ti.uler sufficient encigy to indulge in, tikes place ; with the result that the native hands over hit oil at a nominal price per gallon, which is about half v/hut it is really .worth, and gits paid m goods which are WUd and exchanged at about 200 per coot, above their value ; so that, iv one wuy or another, the tradei makes rathei a good thing out of it.—" West African Islands," by M.ijoi A. J>. Kiln.