Calabar

Calabar, the name of a coast district of Upper Guinea, Africa, now embraced in the Niger Protectorate (a British Protectorate since 1884), the limits of which are not clearly defined; but it is usually understood to extend from the Nun mouth of the Niger to the Cameroon district. The surface is low and flat, and the climate unhealthy. Palm-oil, kernels, ebony, ivory, india-rubber, shea butter, and beni-seed are the chief articles of commerce, which is mostly in the hands of the Royal Niger Company. The United Presbyterians have had a mission here since 1846, which has produced beneficial changes. The belief in witchcraft is dying out; and the destruction of twin children, the ordeal of the Calabar bean, and the massacre of slaves at the death of a king, are now less common than formerly. Of the different tribes, the Efik, who are a negro stock, is the most important. Their language has been reduced to writing, and many volumes, including the Scriptures, have been translated into Efik. Their political bond of union is a kind of secret society known as Egbo. British consular jurisdiction is chiefly exercised in the river mouths between the Brass and the Old Calabar rivers. Many European traders, instead of living in towns or on the beach, occupy the hulks which are moored in the channels of the rivers. The chief towns are Duke Town, Creek Town, and Old Town.—The Old Calabar River, which is believed to rise in the neighbourhood of Iko, beyond Uyanga, enters the Bight of Biafra, about 52 miles WNW. of Fernando Po, by an estuary about 9 miles in breadth. It is navigable by steamers for about 200 miles, and is often called Cross River.—The New Calabar River is a branch of the Niger, falling into the Bight of Biafra in 4° 30' N. lat., and 7° 7' E. long. See the article NIGER, and Hugh Goldie, Calabar and its Mission (1890).