462 A TROPICAL DEPENDENCY Northern Nigeria, by the universal testimony of the British Residents now stationed in every province, are generally happy and contented.

This condition of affairs is sometimes made the basis of an argument in favour of the permanent toleration of domestic slavery, which, under proper supervision, is thought by some people to be an institution suited to the present condition of Africa. In opposition to such a view there is the simple logic of the fact that slavery cannot be maintained without a supply of slaves acquired under all the horrors of slave-raids, and transported with great suffering and loss of life from their original homes. The evils of this system, whether they are considered from a humane, or simply from an economic and administrative point of view, do not need to be insisted on. For this reason alone slavery must stand condemned in any society which aspires to civilisation. But there is also a second aspect in which slavery as an institution is opposed to the march of progress. It keeps a very large portion of the population in a state of tutelage, in which the individual is not held responsible for his acts. This, in my husband's opinion, is the reason why Mohammedan Africa, which readily reaches a higher stage of civilisation than the black pagan territories, does not progress beyond a certain point. It is too heavily weighted by the irresponsible multitudes who are not concerned with, and do not directly contribute towards public life. This from the administrative point of view is very undesirable.

It is the British tradition that slavery is not tolerated in any country which has been annexed to the Crown, and has become a colony under the British flag, but that in countries which are only in that partially dependent condition which is known by the name of a Protectorate, and are still governed by their own laws, it is not possible to forbid the institution of domestic slavery where it exists. In all British Protectorates the step is now taken to abolish the legal status of slavery.

In Northern Nigeria the value of the immediate