Chapter III: Presented at Court (2)

There are four tribes that have the right of giving what is called a king to the Egba nation, viz., Ake, Oshelle, Olewu, and Aguru. His Majesty of Abeokuta belongs to the first. His predecessor was that Shodeke of Ake who rose to power amongst his countrymen in time to ‘consolidate the heterogeneous mass,’ and to prevent the old blood-feuds breaking out afresh. Of the consolidator’s virtues all have something to say. Europeans speak respectfully of him, and his people almost worship him, as the Egyptians do Mohammed Ali Pasha—no great advantage to his successor. Shodeke dying in 1845, his brother Someye, the Ibashorun, premier, or commander-in-chief, was made temporary ruler of Abeokuta. After his death there was a hard race between Okukeno and his coeval Ogubonna. The former, however, had raised himself to the rank of sagbwa, or dictator. Having followed for years the plough, or rather the hoe, and at times acted as basket-maker—the Egbas are essentially farmers, whilst the Ijebus are traders—he had acquired the art of seeming humble. He had also the reputation of being poor—the usual affectation amongst ambitious chiefs—whilst he was rich in land and slaves. Thus the ‘mild and amiable sagbua,’ as a writer very wrongly calls him, had the cunning to defeat his rival, and in 1854 he was invested with the title of Alake, an honour never conferred upon an Egba prince since the great dispersion of the people. But he is waxing old; his lieges are weary of him; there is a report that he has made too much money, and signs appear that his subjects will send him a quiet message to ‘go and sleep.’[81]

The Alake is usually of calm and quiet demeanour, capable, however, of showing strong excitement, perfectly inveterate in vengeance, never forgetting and never forgiving, ever plotting and biding his time—an excellent thing in an African monarch. The following instance is given of his patience under injurious treatment: When the waggish savage Ogodippe, war chief of Ikijá—during the troubles at Lagos he sided with Akitoye against Kosoko, killed several Brazilian traders, and kidnapped a number of people—was reproved by the Alake, he arose, walked round him, and insulted him as anointed king was never insulted before, ending by asking if more was required. The Alake made no reply, but, _ultâ mente reponens_, stored up the injury for future discussion, and waits, like Saadi’s derwaysh, till he gets the insulter into his power.

When the curtain was raised, we were severally introduced by the interpreter, Lagos Williams, and Commander Bedingfield shook hands with the Alake. Our ‘mouf,’ as the linguist is here called, then opened the ‘palaver’ with sundry set and dreadfully sententious sentences; for example, that the Oibo, or white man, had come up from Lagos at the king’s request; that _vivâ voce_ was the best method of communication; that he hoped all would be well, and so forth.

In reply the Alake hung down his head, and affected to doze, which, to say the least, was not polite. No one had ever seen him so surly; many of the chiefs, therefore, had refused to attend, saying that the Alake must settle his own quarrels. The few then present attempted to encourage him by ejaculating certain words in an abrupt metallic tone, and one man, distinguished as a sycophant, sang out, ‘Ai-ku, don’t die!’[82] in a strain which still haunts certain fibres of my brain. The curtain was presently let down, and those outside began a new set of outlandish noises. Some uttered blessings; others beat the left breast with the right hand; whilst others, by joining the palms and sharply drawing back the two smaller fingers of the left hand, produced a snapping, which in this land signifies approval. All this apparatus was, we were told, provoked by the solemn occasion of the great man taking snuff. The ceremony was punctually repeated whenever the king drank, and his glass was tasted preliminarily by the confidential slave with the keys. The Egbas rob their rulers of as much of the reality, and leave them as much of the unreality of rule—the pomp and ceremony—as possible. This custom of concealing the king on such occasions appears to result from a compound idea. In some African places, as at Loango, the person of the ruler is so sacred that it is death to see him eat or drink. In other parts it is supposed that a man is most obnoxious to witchcraft when eating, drinking, and sleeping.

After an unconscionable time for digesting the last speech, there arose an old man, whose wrinkled face and dwindled stomach showed fully his sixty years. His dress was a white loin-cloth, a necklace of beads, and a leather talisman, like a ‘grigri bag,’ with two gold or brass rings sewn to its front. He was the Akpesi or Prince of Ikemta, one of the Abeokutan townships, the only other man of the same rank being the Apesi of Eruwan. The ‘king’s mouth,’ or, as he would be called further south, ‘ole parrot,’ is celebrated for eloquence and for a Sancho Panza-like knowledge of proverbs, and readiness in the use of them. He is therefore a useful man, but the whites declare that he is not to be trusted. He presently stood up, and without once referring to his master, delivered himself of a long speech, with frequent repetitions, the words ‘ki’ (signifying ‘salutation’) and ‘gi-di gi-di’ (‘very well’) being the most ear-catching. At the peroration he expressed the gladness of the Alake to see and welcome us at the capital; as for himself, he rubbed his bony hands on his lean stomach to show the yearning of his own proper bowels towards us. After which he sat down with the air of a man who can afford to say Dixi.

Commander Bedingfield rejoined with many thanks and return salutations, at the same time insinuating a wish that the ‘palaver’ might ‘come up’—in other words, to do something more than talkee-talkee.

The ‘king’s mouth’ again arose, welcomed us with even more effusion than before, repeated a prodigious number of ‘ki’s’ and ‘gi-di gi-di’s,’ and concluding by hinting that this was the happiest day in Abeokuta’s life—a day to drink, and chat, and make merry, leaving the future to take care of itself, though he owned that it—the future—was the properest time to work.

‘The captain’ accepted frankly and freely all offers of conviviality, but ventured to represent that as the morrow would be Sunday—a _dies non_—and as he could not afford to be long absent from his seat of government, H.M.S. ‘Prometheus,’ it might be as well to settle upon the next day but one for business purposes. Much, too, of the same kind.

The reply was again superlatively polite, agreeing to everything, except to fixing a day, which would to a certain extent be derogating.

Then the carousing began. My companions thought it their duty to imbibe some vile stuff in the shape of strong waters. I remembered Sir William Temple, who, when sent on a diplomatic mission to the Netherlands, kept a friend to make head against the Dutchmen in beer. They were then induced to swallow some of the ‘king’s sweet wine,’ and by their looks it was apparent that they had not found it either Tokay or Lunel. All the bottles were opened with a perfect disregardlessness of expense, the Akpesi himself handing the tumblers of rum to the assembled crowd, each of whom sipped, and sent on. When any one passed the presence, he prostrated himself as ceremoniously as one kneels during presentation in London. After the drinking, we wanted to depart—I especially, who, after drawing out my sketch-book, had, at the request of those present, been obliged to put it out of sight. We were delayed, however, by the non- arrival of the king’s ‘dash,’ or present; and when it came it proved to be a sheep, a goat, and a bag of cowries—the latter now worth about eighteen shillings.[83] Three cases of excellent Hollands—far too good for such mouths—were afterwards forwarded as a counter-gift, two to the chiefs, and one to the Christian converts.

After expressing gratitude for the king’s liberality, we arose, shook hands, or rather squeezed palms, with the great man, whose temper seemed to have been mollified by his potations, and we left the hole—terribly hot it was—without delay.

The audience did not impress me favourably. Having heard much of progress and civilization at Abeokuta, I hardly expected to meet there the poorest reception on the West African coast. Presently I remembered that only twenty years ago the people of Egba had emerged from a low state of barbarism, and had become acquainted with the outer world through a few half-caste and European missionaries. Still my opinion is that their social state—which is about equal to that of the Bhils and Coolies of Guzerat—has been grossly misrepresented in England, and that they have been petted into believing themselves far superior to what they are.

The sulkiness of the old king, we afterwards heard, arose partly from a correspondence which had lately taken place. ‘The captain,’ in a letter which he addressed from the ‘Prometheus,’ Lagos, 3rd October, 1861, introduced the following effective words touching a ‘gross insult offered to her Majesty’s representative and to himself:’—

‘It seems to me that surely the Alake and chiefs cannot be aware of the purport of their letter.

‘If they are so, I would ask them a question or two, and request they will answer me.

‘Has England done anything for Abeokuta to entitle her representative to offer his advice without being insulted?

‘Is Abeokuta so strong that she will never more require the assistance of England, and that she can safely defy her power?

‘Does she consider it safe to pull the whiskers of a sleeping lion?’

This style, of course, appeared to the writer peculiarly impressive, Oriental, likely to come home to the feelings of the Africans, whom he knew so well. It wanted, however, the first recommendation of style—intelligibility. The first two questions were queer enough. Abeokuta, like other barbarous kingdoms, believes herself to be the strongest and greatest nation in the world; she may own that England has bigger canoes than she has, but she owns no belief in our superiority by land.[84] The third was a perfect enigma—a conundrum would have been more intelligible. Lions love the liberty of desert sands; they will not venture into the damp, dark forests of Guinea,[85] and—zoological gardens have not yet been introduced into Ake. So the simple Alake inquired what is a lion? And some Sierra Leone ‘gentleman’ had read in a book that it was the ‘king of beasts.’ ‘But what are his whiskers?’ It was suggested that he probably wore a beard. ‘Then, what the dickens’—or something to the same purport—asked poor Okukeno, justly indignant at being taken for a low caste huntsman, ‘have I to do with plucking the beast’s beard?’

It is, I confess, intolerably presumptuous in me to offer suggestions to those who are so much better acquainted with the African than myself. But in a few words, when the object is to _embrouiller_ an affair in this part of the world, there is nothing better than a letter. On the other hand, if a peaceful solution of the question at issue be required, a trusty messenger, or, better still, a personal interview, is the one thing needful. The only interpreters of letters will be either Sierra Leone men, or perhaps white confidants. The chances are that both are imperfectly acquainted with one of the two languages, and the certainty is that both will have their own ends to serve.

After leaving the presence, we visited another place between the Alake’s palace and the Ogbone Lodge of Ake—the state prison. It was then unusually empty. The captives, mostly women and mere boys, sat under a verandah, with their ankles fast in the stocks, which are a pair of horse-shoe shaped iron staples fitting closely round the limb, and with the points driven into a heavy wooden billet. Our object was to see an African Gasparini, an Egba, who, after having been sold four times for various crimes, had as often escaped, and returned to his own country. At midnight of Thursday last he had hid himself in the house of the agent Robbins, and after collecting his plunder in a blanket, he had sat down to supper with the effrontery of a London ‘cracksman.’ The master of the house came in, when his visitor seized his knife and stabbed two of the servants before he could fairly be secured. This time, men say, he may again escape; intercession will save the most notorious offender; and effectually I did not hear of his execution. The punishment for theft is here severe, as amongst the Moroccans; at first, the bastinado, then mutilation, and lastly death. In Africa the penalty of robbery ought to be heavier than that of murder, the former offence being frightfully prevalent, whilst the latter is comparatively rare. A few men hung for stealing even trifles would soon make an African settlement safe from all attempts upon property—always provided that the doom is certain, not problematical, as in the native states. At Abeokuta executions are seldom public, and they follow conviction somewhat too closely to please European ears. The work is usually done at night, in the king’s compound; a peculiar sound of the drum at the time, and next morning a fresh skull nailed to one of the trees opposite the palace, are the sole announcers of the event. ‘Ilejo,’ the present Calcraft, is said to strike the victim with a club, like the old Italian _ammazatore_, and the head is then severed from the body.

After the first ‘palaver’ was duly concluded, we returned to the house of Mr. Wike, and refreshed. Presently appeared a deputation sent by the Christian converts, and headed by another Williams—the name is here as common as in Wales—not an interpreter, but a Church Missionary schoolmaster. The several orders of this hierarchy are, beginning from the lowest, the Christian visitor; he goes about and flushes the game, which is then handed for training and reclaiming to the schoolmaster and the catechist—natives all. Above them begins the white rule of deacons and priests. This Williams had been acting secretary to the Alake, and in that capacity he had addressed to the acting governor of Lagos a letter full of low, puerile impertinence, which was naturally supposed to express the bile and venom of the breed. Mr. M‘Coskry, by systematically denouncing slavery, and by taking more active measures, had incurred all the enmity of these recaptives. But Williams showed a tolerable reputation; he was not known to feel any special grudge against the Acting Governor; he was a schoolmaster, and therefore could hardly be expected to write idiomatic English; and lastly, it was evident, even by his conversation, that a little learning had made him mad, like most of his compatriots, in the way of fine words. So when Williams showed due contrition, his error was set down to the score of ignorance, and he was dismissed with Lord M——’s ‘short answer.’

Horses were brought to us for sale. I saw nothing at Abeokuta but the poorest ponies, twelve hands or so high, neatly enough made, but liable to disease, and uncommonly vicious. One, however, was a Borneo horse, with the high withers that characterize the breed, and the lowest price was set down at twenty-eight bags (about twenty-five pounds), in a country where money is worth four times as much as in Europe. The animal, moreover, was miserably thin, and the experienced determined that something must be wrong, or that it would not have been for sale. Good horses used to be brought down the country from Yoruba; since the war, however, the Iloris and Ibadans, like Abbas Pasha of Egypt, have laid an embargo and a prohibitory duty upon exporting them. Even an Englishman would be compelled to obtain permission from the chief. The war has greatly raised the price of beasts; they are in all about six hundred, and the best have been sent to the camp. Yet the warriors on both sides are ignorant of the simplest forms of cavalry, and this arm, if introduced, would soon decide the fortunes of the field.

Ponies formerly cost two bags, or thirty-six shillings. The same now sell for fifteen to twenty bags; even a colt of known name will fetch that price. A tolerable nag for a European may be bought for thirty bags; the sum rises to two hundred dollars where size is required—as in the Arab, a hand’s height makes an enormous difference—and in fancy cases three hundred dollars would be asked. They are much valued, and require the greatest care in these hot, damp regions. Their food is Guinea corn and grass, cut and brought in by the boys; the head ‘syce’ selects the food, and bathes and grooms his beast. Every day, or every second day, it has a handful of kaón, an impure saltpetre—in Sierra Leone called lubi—and, by way of anthelmintic, a quantity of spices, recalling the celebrated East Indian nostrum, _battísí_. Before going to war the animal is prepared by drugs for a constipation which will last four days, and thus conceal the trail from the enemy. The trappings are rough and heavy, huge demi-piques of morocco leather, with shovel-shaped iron stirrups, sharp at the corners, and points projecting, by way of spur. The bridle has the cruel ring-bit of the Arab Bedouin, and twisted leather thongs, forming a whip at the end. Poitrail and crupper are not wanting, and a variety of ropes and tethers, charms and talismans, are bound round the neck. The animals, however, are not shod.

This evening, as on the previous, we heard loud shouts, broken by an occasional musket-shot, and accompanied by the usual tom-tom. A large crowd of _badauds_ and _flaneurs_ stood or squatted at the gate. They were celebrating the obsequies of the Akpena or messenger of Ijemma, a high official who had lately died, not without strong suspicions of poison. He had been engaged in a quarrel with his superior, the Ibashorum of his town. The people found business at a stand-still; they therefore sent to the less useful personage—the messenger—their compliments, and a humble request that he would ‘go to sleep.’ So to sleep he went. What a charming way of settling the ridiculous squabbles and the injurious jealousies of rival and hostile departments and _ministères_! Am I not justified in suggesting to the civilized peoples of the world so natty a mode of preventing private feeling from interfering, as it now so fatally often does, with public duty?

[Footnote 46: ‘Ogubonna’s’ family, for instance, have three small squares of blue tattoo upon each cheek, combined with the three Egba cuts.]

[Footnote 47: Capt. John Adams (pp. 133, 134) well describes this people:—‘A class of Heebos (the Ibo or Eboe, whose chief town is Abo, at the head of the Nigerian Delta), called Breeche, and whom many have very erroneously considered to be a distinct nation, masters of slave-ships have always had a strong aversion to purchase, because the impression made on their minds, by their degraded situation, was rendered more galling and permanent from the exalted rank which they occupied in their own country, and which was thought to have a very unfavourable influence on their shipmates and countrymen in misfortune.

‘Breeche, in the Heebo language, signifies “gentleman,” or the eldest son of one, and who is not allowed to perform, in his own country, any menial office. He inherits at his father’s death all his slaves, and has the absolute control over the wives and children which he has left behind him. Before attaining the age of manhood his forehead is scarified, and the skin brought down from the hair to the eyebrows, so as to form a line of indurated skin from one temple to the other. This peculiar mark is distinctive of his rank, the ordinary mark of the Heebo being formed by numerous perpendicular incisions in each temple, as if the operation of cupping had been often performed.’]

[Footnote 48: Burukú causes fits, and kills by small-pox—distinctly an East Indian idea.]

[Footnote 49: Some authors state that the gyri and sulci are shallow and infirm, but what may be their opportunities of autopsy I know not.]

[Footnote 50: Phrenologically speaking, I believe this denotes either great destructiveness, or power of abstaining from food, whereas the Egbas are remarkable for neither.]

[Footnote 51: A man with a theory once accounted to me for the superiority of the negro’s teeth, by his never drinking anything hotter than at blood heat. A pot of ekko (gruel) would rather have startled him; and generally, the semi-civilized African is as fond of heated aliments as the European. But the barbarian, having no dentist, takes more care of his teeth; hence the occasional difference.]

[Footnote 52: I can hardly, however, rely upon the case quoted by Dr. Clarke, of Sierra Leone (p. 118), viz., that the stimulus of suckling an orphan monkey caused a lacteal flow from the breasts of a virgin negress; yet there is no reason for disbelieving the possibility. Embrocations of virgin’s milk are not uncommon in the Asiatic and the African pharmacopœia.]

[Footnote 53: The _fanatici_ for the Turkish bath, who contend that perspiration makes the ploughman cleaner than the prince, are apt to forget this part of the process.]

[Footnote 54: Also written ‘Oku’ and ‘Aiku,’ properly ‘Ai-ku,’ from _ai_ ‘negative,’ and _ku_ ‘to die.’ ‘Aiku’ is a noun, signifying ‘immortality,’ or, rather, ‘unquenchableness.’ ‘Aku’ is also a noun, signifying a salutation.]

[Footnote 55: The inverted form of blessing would perhaps be more intelligible. The Somalis know our men as ‘Godam,’ and the Spaniards named their mustachios, from a favourite military oath, ‘bigotes.’]

[Footnote 56: Captain John Adams (p. 92, &c.) gives a long notice of the Hios—he seems to have been hard on the letter _h_—and their king. He places the country between Hausa and Dahome, hardly believing that its army is 100,000 men, but declaring that its influence extends to the sea by way of Ardrah.]

[Footnote 57: The maps usually write it ‘Eyeo.’ It must not be confounded with Oyo, in Yoruba Proper, lying one degree N.N.E. (N. lat. 8°) of Abeokuta.]

[Footnote 58: My friend Dr. Arnott, a surgeon in one of the East Indian regiments, showed me what appeared to be a true syphilitic sore, communicated to his horse, doubtless, by some native so afflicted.]

[Footnote 59: Baddahun, usually written Badohong, was his princely name; Glele, or Gleli (the jawbone), is one of his strong names.]

[Footnote 60: Others say 8000 men and 4000 women, which is more likely.]

[Footnote 61: According to Mr. Freeman, a missionary, who has frequently visited Abome and Komasi, Gezo of Dahome was one of the greatest of African kings. He reigned some thirty-five years, and in 1858 died of fever. When Mr. Duncan—the Life-Guardsman—was sent to him as vice- consul, he was much pleased with the size of the person; but after a fortnight or so, he inquired of a friend why the King of England ‘did not send him a man with a head.’]

[Footnote 62: Much nonsense is afloat touching these ‘Amazons.’ They are simply, like the Urdubegani of the Deccan and of other Asiatic courts, the slaves of the palace organized as royal property, and weaponed by the late King Gezo—who feared treason from the men. Most of them are women taken in adultery or too shrewish to live with their husbands, who ‘dash’ them to the king, instead of killing them. Once, however, royal slaves they become vestals. They are bound, like the female priests of Grewhe, under penalty of death, to chastity and celibacy, and this naturally communicates a certain amount of ferocity to their minds—‘horrors’ are, with the eunuch, their succedaneum for love. Upon this subject I am tempted to quote a few lines from Captain John Adams (p. 74), who says of Dahome: ‘One of the conditions by which a female is admitted into the order of priesthood, is that of leading a life of celibacy, and renouncing the pleasures of the world; and but few are admitted to enter it at all; for during a residence of many months at Grewhe, one ceremony only of this kind was performed, at which I was present.

‘There is a striking similarity in the conditions imposed on those poor deluded African women who are admitted into the priesthood, and many of those nuns who in Catholic Europe are forced to take the veil; only the former are instruments in the hands of fraud and oppression, while the others are too often the victims of domestic tyranny and ambition. But the lot of the savage African is far superior to that of the civilized European. For the former, notwithstanding the restraints imposed on her, can enjoy the sweets of personal liberty, and has some scope for the play of her natural affections; whereas the latter is shut within the gloomy walls of a prison, where her short life is passed away in vain regret, and in the society of immolated beings who are as melancholy and desponding as herself.’

To which we may add, another advantage to the African woman, that her feelings, like those of barbarians and the uncivilized generally, are by no means so highly developed as amongst Europeans. A scanty diet, a life of toil, and the petty cares of domestic duties, blunt, if they do not destroy, the _besoin d’amour_. She is not even—

‘Commanded

By such poor passion as the maid that milks,

And does the meanest chares.’

Female soldiery, as a rule, is a failure; or rather, like female labour in all departments of industry, it produces a worse article at a cheaper rate. The Amazons, I believe, are no exception. They cannot be estimated at more than 2000, although many travellers—Dalziell, Cruickshanks, Winniett, Duncan, and Forbes—have raised the number to 4000, and even 6000. In the case of Messrs. Duncan and Forbes, the Amazons were marched round the palace yard, in at one and out at the other gate, like the commissariat cattle in Afghanistan. Captain John Adams (p. 93) mentions the same manœuvre on the part of the King of Hio (Yoruba), adding, ‘This was a political stratagem that would hardly have been expected from an African savage.’]

[Footnote 63: It is, however, only fair to the Amazons to state, that Mr. Bowen, on the day after the battle, saw several hundreds of them lying dead on the field, where they had fought with great fury. Commander Forbes, on the other hand (vol. i., p. 81), says of the Dahoman army, ‘These soldiers, being yearly at war, have gained a fame that, if fairly tried, would soon be found wanting.’]

[Footnote 64: It is a dire insult to refuse the invitation of an African king to visit his capital. Captain John Adams (p. 63, &c.) tells how seven English seamen, cast ashore four or five miles from ‘Grewhe,’ were sent up ninety miles to the king at Agbome. One man, affecting lameness to escape the journey, ‘had his hands and feet tied together, and a pole introduced between them, and in this way they were going to Abomey; when, to avoid so painful an alternative, he found the use of his limbs, and marched along with his unfortunate companions.’ They seem all to have been well treated at the capital. The king tried, by promises and threats, to persuade the man who had affected lameness to stay with him. But when the fellow answered that, ‘“if his shipmates went away without him he would destroy himself,” the king seemed to feel uneasy at this, and consulted one of his principal men, who advised him to permit the man to return with his companions, which was granted.’]

[Footnote 65: This was written in 1861. At present (Feb. 1863) we hear that Commodore Wilmot, Captain Luce, and Dr. Haran have set out on a journey to Agbome, where I may venture to predict they will be received as honoured guests.]

[Footnote 66: The palm-kernel oil, which is so fast becoming an important article of traffic, is of two kinds. The white oil is that expressed from the kernel after it has been cracked. The black oil is that which drips through the husk when toasted with the kernel inside. This is done to save labour. As yet no efficient crusher has been invented, consequently every kernel must be broken by manual labour. When machinery shall be invented, the trade will assume a new standing. It is now worth 50_l._ per ton.]

[Footnote 67: One head of cowries, = 1_s._ 9_d._, here keeps a man for a week.]

[Footnote 68: So travellers from Badagry pass the first night at Mo, a place not far distant from the sea.]

[Footnote 69: It is almost as complicated as the Hindu’s curry, though far inferior in delicacy of taste. The material is fish, flesh, and boiled fowl, with yam or koko, flavoured with onions or shalots, ground cocoa-nut, malaguetta and other peppers, red and green okros or occros (_Hibiscus esculentus_) in large quantities, and lastly, refined palm oil, which gives the _goût_. In black man’s palaver sauce they insert ‘affitti’ or ‘ogiri,’ a condiment about as aromatic as bad asafœtida.]

[Footnote 70: Of this valuable nut more hereafter.]

[Footnote 71: They are oleaginous, and produced by a gourd one to two feet long, growing upon a climber.]

[Footnote 72: The ‘pombo’ of Eastern Africa. Maize is here macerated for three days, till germination takes place. It is then spread on leaves for fermentation, sun-dried on mats, and bruised. Mixed with cold water, in a pot, it is well stirred for two hours, and boiled for twenty-four hours; on the next day it is again boiled, and afterwards strained, cooled, and stored in calabashes.]

[Footnote 73: This is Anglo-Africa for cow’s milk.]

[Footnote 74: The mango seems to have been known here of old.]

[Footnote 75: Tolerable native iron is brought from the northern country.]

[Footnote 76: Copper is said to be found in the mountains to the east of Abeokuta.]

[Footnote 77: There is also an independent expletive—‘Small-pox!’ ejaculated as if the speaker believed in the Sitla Devi, or the small- pox goddess of India. Yet the disease is rarely fatal in these parts, as on the sea-board west of and about Lagos.]

[Footnote 78: ‘A singular custom prevails here (Ardrah), that of anointing, occasionally, the interior walls of houses with fresh cow- dung; a useful practice, for it dries quickly, has by no means an unpleasant smell, and fills up crevices which would otherwise be tenanted by noxious and troublesome insects.’—(Captain John Adams, p. 81.)]

[Footnote 79: In these lands, ‘nigger’ always means a slave.]

[Footnote 80: Shodeke, concerning whom more anon, wore, we are told by Mr. T. B. Freeman, a scarlet cloth coat and a large blue tassel.]

[Footnote 81: Which is the polite way of directing him to retire to his harem, and then and there to poison himself, unless he wishes a worse fate. This constitutional proceeding is the Harikari, or ‘happy release’ of the Japanese, and in practice is not unknown in Europe. In Africa, hasty deposition is checked, however, by the custom of slaying openly, or secretly, the high officer called the ‘king’s father,’ and other great chiefs, to meet him in Orun or Hades. Since the above was written the Alake died on the 1st September, 1862.]

[Footnote 82: Mr. Hughes thought the word was ‘Ekun’ (a leopard), one of the king’s strong names, but he was in error.]

[Footnote 83: In 1863 it has diminished to fifteen shillings.]

[Footnote 84: I have repeatedly heard the same assertion from the lips of the cowardly Krumen.]

[Footnote 85: The king of beasts is found above Macarthy’s Island, in the Gambia River, and Lander mentions him in Barba and Upper Yoruba. Mr. Bowen ignores his existence east of the Ogun River.]