BRASS, a river, town and district of southern Nigeria, British West Africa. The Brass river is one of the deltaic branches of the Niger, lying east of the Rio Nun or main channel of the river. From the point of divergence from the main stream to the sea the Brass has a course of about zoom., its mouth being in 6° 20' E., 4° 35' North. Brass town, formerly a flourishing trading settle ment at the mouth of the river, is no longer much used by ship traffic. The capital of the Brass tribes is Nimbe, 3om. up river. The Brass river, called by its Portuguese discoverers the Rio Bento, is said to have received its English name from the brass rods and other brass utensils imported by the early traders in exchange for palm oil and slaves. The Brass natives, of the pure negro type, were noted for their savage character. In 1856 their chiefs concluded a treaty with Great Britain agreeing to give up the slave-trade in exchange for a duty on the palm oil exported. Finding their profitable business as middlemen between the up river producer and the exporter threatened by the appearance of European traders, they made ineffective complaints to the British authorities. The establishment of the Royal Niger Company led to greater bitterness, for the company's regulations were practi cally prohibitory for native trade. The Brass men determined on reprisals, and on January 29, 1895, the natives, Christian and pagan, attacked and sacked the company's station at Akassa on the Rio Nun. Forty-three of the prisoners taken back to Nimbe were killed and eaten by the pagan section. The Christian chiefs took no part in this feast and sent back their prisoners (25 in number). In the following March a punitive expedition destroyed Nimbe ; 30o natives were killed or wounded. A heavy fine was imposed on the Brass chiefs and the king, Koko, was deposed. The trade regulations of which complaint had been made were removed in 1900 on the establishment of the protectorate of Southern Nigeria.