besides which
a detachment of the 1st West India Regiment was quartered on the ground
floor. None of the latter were hurt, but two men of the 36th were
killed. The greater part of the spacious galleries was carried away,
some of the arches that supported them fell, and many were very much
broken. None of the roof remains that will ever be of service."

Towards the end of the year 1832, numerous complaints were made by
native traders who were in the habit of trading to the Sherbro and the
adjacent territories, that they were molested and their goods plundered
by a marauding party of Mohammedan Acoos, who had established themselves
in the vicinity of the Ribbie River. These Acoos were liberated
Africans, that is, slaves who had been set free from captured slavers at
Freetown, Sierra Leone, and had, contrary to the regulations then in
force, clandestinely left the Colony.

A party of volunteers, having been despatched to gather information
concerning these rebels, ascertained that they had been joined by other
parties of marauders, and had established themselves at a place called
Cobolo, on the northern bank of the Kates, or Ribbie River. The manager
of the Waterloo District also reported various outrages and depredations
committed by this band.

On December 13th, 1832, the Hastings company of volunteers, with that of
Waterloo, marched from the village of Waterloo towards Cobolo, distant
by road some thirty miles, with orders to capture and bring in the
leaders of the rebels. Next morning, as this force was approaching
Cobolo, the Acoos, who were concealed in the bush, fired upon the head
of the column, and the volunteers at once, and without firing a shot,
turned and ran in the greatest confusion; nor did they recover from
their panic till they had reached Waterloo. The Acoos pursued the
fugitives for some little distance, and killed seven of their number.

The rising, originally trivial, had now, through the shameful behaviour
of the volunteers, become serious. The news of the defeat spread with
great rapidity among the unruly tribes on the frontier of the Colony;
and a Mohammedan priest, proclaiming himself a prophet, placed himself
at the head of the movement. The Governor acted with promptitude; and
recognising the great danger of delay, despatched, on December 17th, all
the available men from the garrison of Sierra Leone, under
Lieut.-Colonel Hingston, Royal African Corps. The recruiting company of
the 1st West