An administrative officer ought to know something of the language and customs of the people over whom he is set in authority. On this point we are all agreed. But it is difficult to press for it in Sierra Leone, where some fifteen tongues are met with among as many different tribes. The impossibility of learning fifteen languages has served us in the past as an excuse for dispensing with a knowledge of any of them.

   It is to be otherwise in the future. Newly appointed officers are to pass in either Temne or Mende. Text-books are being compiled. Rewards are being granted for study and research. If rules and regulations can be taken to mean anything, the old order is about to change.

   I, for one, expect much of the change. In treatises on the care of a man's health in the "depressing" climate of West Africa there is usually one surprising omission. We are not advised to adopt that greatest of all cures for depression--an active interest in one's work and one's surroundings. "Sierra Leone Studies " are intended to foster this interest. I am confident that, when officers have learnt to understand the speech and customs of the people round them, they will never find Africa dull. And life, relieved of dullness, becomes healthier. With a deeper understanding of the African there comes a greater liking for him; and, while the people will be better governed, the political officer will find his reward in a life that is full of interest.

   There are in Sierra Leone many men--officials and unofficials--who have neither the time nor the taste for the compilation of ambitious treatises, but who are fond of the country, want to read about it, and are ready to supply from time to time notes on points of interest met with in their work. A note on a native dance or on a local industry or on the election of a tribal chief may seem a small thing in itself; but it is of interest to many, and in the course of years the sum-total of these "Studies" will be of great scientific value. The local languages are too numerous and the customs too varied to allow at present of any one writer preparing a satisfactory book on Sierra Leone; in course of time co-operation may effect what no single student can now hope to do.

   A glance at the list of contributors to the first part of these "Sierra Leone Studies " will show that the movement  appeals to every section of the community: to officials, missionaries, and tribal chiefs, to Europeans, Creoles and Aboriginal Africans. The one common link between the contributors is an interest in the country in which they live. If the old order is changing, it is moving, assuredly, in the direction of unity and better feeling.

   In December, 1915, the Government of French West Africa appointed a "Committee of Historical and Scientific Studies" under the presidency of the Governor-General (M. Clozel). In 1916 the Committee published the first volume of its transactions. Needless to say, the contents were of a very high order of merit. But movements of this sort are no new thing. I myself was, for some years, the editor of a series of " Papers on Malay Subjects " similar in many ways to " Sierra Leone Studies". There are precedents enough for what we hope to do. We ask for contributions on any subject connected with the ethnography, life and customs of the people, the flora and fauna, the geology and resources of the country,--these are all matters on which notes will be welcome.

It is felt that the appearance of the publication in the middle of a great war may call for a word of explanation. The justification, if any be demanded, will be found in the conditions which prevail in Sierra Leone at the present day. On the one hand, there is a vast mass of material. On the other hand, there is a large amount of knowledge about the country and its peoples, which, if systematically collected and arranged, would be not only of much general interest, but also of great value. That little has been recorded hitherto may have been due to the natural modesty of persons qualified by their own experience of the natives to speak with authority concerning them. It may also be partially due to a failure to realize that what is a matter of common or general knowledge in Sierra Leone may be practically unknown to people who have never had the opportunity of visiting the colony. Be this as it may, the knowledge is here and once this knowledge is ignited it is hoped that it may be kindled to a great flame, which will illuminate the surrounding darkness. If the present publication serves to kindle even the smallest spark, it is believed that it will have justified its inception.

   But it may be said that there is no reason for choosing the present moment for publishing the "Studies." The answer to this objection is that the mass of material is volatile and fugitive. The Protectorate of Sierra Leone is in a transitional state. With the improvement of communications and the spread of European education, the natives are rapidly becoming more and more civilized. Signs are not wanting that in a few years the entire structure of their society, with most of its interesting features, may have vanished into the limbo of an unrecorded and traditionless past. At the present moment native society continues to flourish, as it has flourished for thousands of years, and presents an abundant harvest of information to any one who dares to reap. In a short time this great harvest will have vanished. All that will remain will be a few isolated historical survivals amidst a wilderness of new-fangled and artificial accretions. No time can, therefore, be lost in getting to work. This is also the opinion of so well-informed an observer as Mr. N. W. Thomas, sometime Government Anthropologist in Sierra Leone.

   In order to safeguard contributors from "piracy," the copyright of the " Sierra Leone Studies " has been vested in the Government, but it should be clearly understood that there is no desire on the part of the Government to prevent contributors from republishing their articles elsewhere, should they wish to do so.

   Many of the chiefs of the Protectorate could, if they were willing, supply valuable information concerning native customs. Although the natives generally act on the cautious assumption that whatever they may say to a white man will be taken down and used as evidence against them on a subsequent occasion, it is hoped that they will gradually overcome their scruples and dedicate some small quota to the small total of human knowledge. It is hoped that they will in time gain confidence and learn that although by a curious concatenation of circumstances white men are sometimes compelled to hang a cannibal, yet white men are none the less genuinely interested to know why he was a cannibal.

   It is hardly necessary to remark that the editors accept no responsibility, either for the literary style of any of the articles published, or for the views expressed or facts stated by contributors.

   This publication derives its origin entirely from the wishes of His Excellency the Governor, Mr. R. J. Wilkinson, C.M.G., without whose help and encouragement it would never have been produced. This introduction can only conclude with an expression of hope that the "Studies " will be a worthy monument and permanent tribute to the sympathy shown by His Excellency to all his peoples during his sojourn in Sierra Leone.