SPECIAL COMMISSIONERS SENT UP

The Treaty duly signed was forwarded to the Governor of Lagos by his special messengers, themselves awaiting further orders at their respective posts at Ode Ondo and Ibadan.

By this time the Governor's furlough was due, but, with the sanction of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, he had arranged everything for the accomplishment of this work, and matters were left in the hands of the Acting-Governor, F. Evans, Esq., the Colonial Secretary, to carry out. Mr. Henry Higgins, the Asst. Col. Secretary and Mr. Oliver Smith, Queen's Advocate, were appointed Special Commissioners for this business. They were to be attended by an escort of 50 Hausa soldiers, each provided with 50 rounds of ball cartridges for their Martini Henry rifles. They had also with them a 7-pounder gun, and a rocket trough with necessary ammunition.

Capt. W. Speeding, the Harbour Master, also accompanied the expedition, with instructions to make geographical observations all along the route from Ejirin on the lagoon—the point of disembarkation—through Ijebu Ode, Ibadan, to Osogbo and Kiriji, to return to Lagos if possible via Ilesa, Ode Ondo, Aiyesan, Itebu, and Atijere. He was also to make as far as possible a survey map of the route and to fix the positions of the principal towns, the number of houses and inhabitants in each village, names of chiefs, depth, width, and courses of rivers crossed, heights of hills, nature of roads, and all other useful and statistical information to be carefully obtained and recorded.