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Auction: 12013 - The Collector's Series sale
Lot: 1427

Northern Nigeria West African Frontier Force 1906 (12 May) envelope (with original contents headed "Het" and later "Vom") from Capt. Wilkin to his step-brother in London, bearing 1905 1d. tied by "keffi northern nigeria" double-ring d.s. and showing, on reverse, Lokoja (20.6) and arrival datestamps. The part of the letter headed from Het includes "We shall be out of the Rukubu country by the 18th, tomorrow we go to Atho but then we come back into Rukubu country - The number of languages spoken in this part of the country is marvellous, Bukuru, Vom & Hoss are Kibyens and speak Kinven. Kwol & Miango only 15 miles from Bukuru and 10 from Vom have a language of their own. The Rukubu country is only 10 miles by 10, but there are 12 towns and villages - they speak Rukubu - Atho has separate language - these people were of course head hunters, so they did not go out of their own country to any extent. The Rukubu are cannibals but they are rather more dressy than Kibyens. The part of the letter from Vom includes "We left Rukubu on the 17th - I got here with the Coy on the 18th....We are living in houses, these pagan houses are not more than 6 or 7 feet in diameter, so we sleep in our tents and use the houses for storing kit - we are collecting The Tax for the year. This is a very big town (said to be 15,000), people friendly, but not pleased we are living here etc.". Photo Estimate £ 300-400

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£250