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They have not improved in demeanour during the last twenty years. Even then the 'liberateds' and 'recaptives, chiefly Akus and Ibos, had begun the 'high jinks, which we shall find at their highest in Sierra Leone. They had organised 'Companies, the worst of trade-unions, elected headmen, indulged in strikes, and more than once had come into serious collision with the military.
The most powerful and influential races are two the Aku and the Ibo. The Akus [Footnote: This is a nickname from the national salutation, 'Aku, ku, ku? ('How d'ye do?)] or Egbas of Yoruba, the region behind Lagos, the Eyeos of the old writers, so called from their chief town, 'Oyo, are known by their long necklaces of tattoo. They are termed the Jews of Western Africa; they are perfect in their combination, and they poison with a remarkable readiness. The system of Egba 'clanship' is a favourite, sometimes an engrossing, topic for invective with the local press, who characterise this worst species of 'trades-union, founded upon intimidation and something worse, as the 'Aku tyranny' and the 'Aku Inquisition. The national proverb speaks the national sentiment clearly enough: 'Ok
'Aku constables will not, unless in extreme cases, take up their delinquent countrymen, nor will an Ebo constable apprehend an Ebo thief; and so on through all the different tribes, says the lady 'Resident of Sierra Leone. If the majority of the jury be Akus, they will unhesitatingly find the worst of Aku criminals innocent, and the most innocent of whites, Ibos, or Timnis guilty.
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