56
Sierra Leone was located.  By the 1820's the Atlantic slave
trade from the Sierra Leone River area was on the decline
with the timber trade replacing the slave trade.  "It restor¬
ed the Temne a means of getting European goods, scarce since

the slave-traders left, and again provided chiefs with

69
revenue from rents and customs."   Trade with the Europeans

also meant..a ready supply of v;eapons that could be used

against the enemies of the Temne.

The Lokos whose name had been associated with the slave

trading activities of Gumbu Smart were now blamed by the

British for the warfare in the Sierra Leone River area.

"The Lokos, perhaps, a little unjustly, were regarded as

the chief disturbers of the peace and the chief danger along

70
the trade route between Timbo and Freetown."   British

support shifted from the Loko to the Temne.  Thus in 1825

the British supported the Temne in an argument with the

Smart family. By the 1840's the Temne were the dominant pov/er

in the Port Loko region.  The Loko remained dormant in their

remnant chiefdom until the rise of Bai Bureh who led a revolt

against the British in 1898.  The Smart family remained at

Mahera and rose to power during the Hut Tax Rebellion when

they supported the British.

Different clans among the Loko would fight each other

or they would fight other tribes.  The captured prisoners

69.   C. Fyfe, op. cit., p. 125

70.   E. Hirst, op. cit., p. 32