Chapter VI (6)

6th.—Finding the ass that was taken ill yesterday unable to proceed any farther, was obliged to leave him behind. On seeing his companion going away, the poor animal brayed most piteously, and made many ineffectual attempts to rise. At six in the morning left the town, and after sunset came to a number of grass huts, similar to those mentioned before; in the largest of which we rested for the night, and did not fix the tent. On crossing a river, apparently very narrow, to-day, my horse unexpectedly sunk several feet in mud and sand, and his legs becoming entangled in the roots of some trees lying at the bottom, fell on his side, and plunging violently, threw me off his back; but not being able to get one of my feet from the stirrup, lay several seconds under water, in a most perilous and distressed state. Freeing myself at length from the stirrup, I got out much exhausted, and succeeded in extricating the horse also from his no less unpleasant situation. Some merchants told me afterwards at Khiama, that I might think myself highly fortunate in escaping so easily, the river being filled with large crocodiles.

7th.—Started at six in the morning, and arrived at Yaro after sunset. The chief made us the usual presents of provisions, &c. A dreadful hurricane came on about nine o’clock in the evening, which lasted three hours, when it became awfully still and calm. The storm was unusually violent, and tore up large trees by the roots; the peals of thunder were fearfully loud, and shook the ground on which our tent was fixed; while large masses of fire, falling from the heavens, added not a little to this scene of devastation and terror.

8th.—Heavy rain all day; unable to proceed.

9th.—At half-past six in the morning continued our journey, and at noon entered the city of Khiama. Went immediately to the king’s residence, who, as soon as he saw me, asked how I dared to come into his town without having previously sent him a messenger to inform him of my approach. I answered I had sent one of his own men, three or four days before, to acquaint him of it. “That is of no consequence,” he continued; “you should have sent another this morning. Get on horseback directly, and return an hour and a half’s journey the way you came: on arriving there, send me a messenger, and I will order a sufficient escort to conduct you into the city, in a manner deserving your rank and respectability.” I was in the act of obeying this odd mandate, when he bawled after me: “I forgive you this time, Christian, but never be so remiss again.” The chief is an eccentric but friendly kind of man, and regretted very much my father’s death, which had been told him some days before by a merchant. He had heard the Fellatas had behaved very roughly to us, and had robbed us; but asked what business we had at Soccatoo? I told him we were at Kano, on our road to Bornou, when Sultan Bello sent for us, and we were obliged in consequence to visit him. He offered to send me safely to Bornou, and said he was tributary to the sheik. I replied, that Bello had taken the presents intended for him, and that I had none left worthy so great a prince, therefore could not accept his kind offer. My present to the chief consisted of a silk sword-sash, three yards of scarlet and blue damask, the same quantity of blue silk, a red cap, two pairs of scissors, and a hundred needles. I likewise gave him my old tent, which was full of holes, and quite useless.

Remained at Khiama five days, during which time the queen’s treatment was kind and generous, supplying us every day with excellent provisions in great abundance. The day before my departure the king gave me a strong pony; and observed that, “if my king wished, at any future period, to send any one to Bornou, he would conduct him there by a safe route, without the necessity of going through the Fellata country.” The king of Khiama is, without exception, the finest and handsomest man we had seen in Africa (far superior to Bello); and, with the exception of the king of Yariba, was most respectably dressed.

14th.—At six in the morning left Khiama, and halted in Subia at one at noon. The country traversed is full of bogs, which caused the horses to fall repeatedly with their riders. The chief of this town gave me a goat and some yams, by command of the king of Khiama’s messenger.

15th.—Started at six in the morning, and travelled the whole of the day, till ten at night, when we rested in a bush.

16th.—Crossing a creek at 6 A.M. arrived at Mossa, a town situated on the banks of a river of the same name, which divides Yariba from Borgoo. The river was overflown, and the current strong and rapid; in consequence of which the people of the town were afraid to ferry us over. No food of any kind this day.

17th.—Asked the king of Khiama’s messenger why he was so much afraid of crossing the water, observing that I had myself swam across many larger and more rapid rivers; and among others mentioned the Niger. The man, in great trepidation, begged me, as I valued my life, not to mention the names of rivers in the hearing of the Mossa, who was a female river, and had many rivals in the affections of the Niger, who was her husband. She had a capricious, jealous, and cruel disposition; and if I ventured to place myself in her power, she would certainly swallow me up, as I had spoken slightingly of her. She was continually quarrelling with her husband, thinking he was too familiar with other rivers; and where they met they made the “devil’s own noise” with their disputes. I roared with laughter when the man had done speaking, at the loves of the Niger, which made him very angry, and I had much to do to pacify him. Being unable to procure provisions of any kind in the village, went to the chief, and wished to know whether he intended to starve us. The old scoundrel had a garden in which he grew a quantity of yams; but he refused to sell me any, asserting that he had none for himself. I then asked leave for Pascoe to cut grass in his garden for the horses, suspecting his yams might be hid in some part of it: this he sulkily granted. In the evening Pascoe returned with a bundle of grass, concealed in which were several yams he had had the good fortune to discover. If this had not been the case, I really believe we should all have died of hunger.

18th.—Went again to the chief in the morning, and demanded something to eat. He solemnly declared he was himself starving, and could get nothing to eat. I then pressed him to send his canoe to the opposite side for provisions: after much intreaty he consented to do so, but first made a charm that it might not be injured in its perilous voyage. For this purpose he killed a fetish fowl, sprinkled its blood in the river, placed some of the entrails in the bow of the canoe, and in the stern put a broken egg: he then muttered several expressions I did not understand; and a man was sent over with the boat, which arrived there in safety; but in returning loaded with poultry and yams, it ran foul of a tree which unluckily lay in the middle of the stream, and sunk immediately, in consequence of which the whole cargo was lost. The chief informed me of the accident, and said that the river could not be crossed in safety for three or four days. Pascoe returned in the evening with more of the chief’s yams and grass.

19th, 20th, and 21st.—Nothing to eat on these days but the yams Pascoe stole from the king’s garden.

22d.—Attempted to cross the river at noon; but did not succeed in getting every thing on the opposite side till five in the evening. The horses and asses were borne a quarter of a mile down the stream, and had nearly perished. Halted at Wantatah, the first town in Yariba, about two hours after.

23d.—At seven in the morning pursued our journey, and at eleven entered Hogie, where we remained for the day. The chief gave me a pig, yams, corn, &c. A red cap and fifty needles fully satisfied him.

24th.—Rested at Hogie to-day.

25th.—Left at six in the morning, and arrived at Katunga, the capital of Yariba, at seven in the evening. The low grounds were rendered almost impassable by reason of the rain, which fell in torrents. On our arrival I was put into the same house we occupied on our journey into the interior.

26th.—The king would not let me wait on him, fearing it might wet my feet; and accordingly he visited me with five hundred of his wives (out of two thousand), and the principal inhabitants of the city. The wives welcomed my return by singing a simple and plaintive air, with much pathos and feeling: their voices were sweet and musical; and the whole had a novel and pleasing effect. Nothing could be heard but their strains, to which every one listened with the profoundest attention until the conclusion of the performance. The king expressed his sorrow for my master’s death; and questioned me very minutely on the motives that induced us to go into the interior. On telling him it was to see if there was any thing worth trading for in the country, he appeared satisfied. He was richly dressed in a scarlet damask tobe, and a pair of trowsers made of country cloth, scarlet ground with a blue stripe; the former ornamented with coral beads; his legs, as far as the knee, were stained red with hennah; and on his feet he wore red leather sandals. A cap made of blue damask, thickly studded with coral beads, was on his head; and silver rings hung round his neck, arms, and legs. I offered him the horse I had purchased at Kano, a fine animal, that had carried me the whole of the way from that city: and regretted my inability to make him a more valuable present; but promised, if he permitted two messengers to accompany me to the sea-coast, I would send him something else. In the evening I received a goat and a great quantity of yams from the king.

27th.—The king having desired me to call on some of his head men, I waited on the master of the horse, and two others. The former gave me a goat and a bottle of honey. I remarked I was very poor, and could make him no return.

30th.—I informed the king I was short of money, on which he generously sent me a duck and four thousand cowries (little more than a dollar). The eunuch, the king’s head man, begged of me my remaining pistol, two dollars, and a scarlet cap, which I was necessitated to give him. He also wanted my ass to make a fetish, but this I refused to let him have. This evening I sent for the ass from a neighbouring pasture, when I found the poor animal had been shot in the side with two poisoned arrows. I have no doubt but this cruel action was performed at the instigation of the disappointed eunuch. The beast became a complete skeleton, and after languishing for six days in great agony, I desired Pascoe and Jowdie to take him to a short distance, and cut his throat. When the king heard of the circumstance, he immediately ordered the carcass to be cut into quarters, and conveyed to his house. After which he ordered the meat to be dressed, and having assembled his wives and head men, they regaled themselves on it with peculiar satisfaction. Wishing to pay for so delicious a treat, the king sent me a goat and a thousand cowries for the dead ass.

The people of Yariba are not very delicate in the choice of their food; they eat frogs, monkeys, dogs, cats, rats, mice, and various other kinds of vermin. A fat dog will always fetch a better price than a goat. Locusts and black ants, just as they are able to take wing, are a great luxury. Caterpillars also are held in very high estimation. The caterpillars are stewed, and eat with yams and tuah. Ants and locusts are fried in butter, and are said to be delicious. I could never make up my mind to taste any of these rich insects; Pascoe, however, is particularly fond of them, and calls them land-shrimps.

It is a custom in Katunga, when the king dies, for his eldest son, first wife, and all the head men of the kingdom, to drink poison over his grave, and are afterwards buried with him. None of the king’s sons ever come to the throne. After the king’s death, his successor is chosen from among the wisest persons of the country; an elderly man is generally preferred.

Remained at Katunga till the 21st of October, when the king gave me 4,000 cowries, and some trona to sell on the road. He ordered his head messengers to accompany me, with a desire they should command the chiefs of every town through which we were to pass, to contribute, according to their means, to our support.

On the 22d of October I left Katunga, and after a rapid and hasty journey, during which nothing of consequence occurred, arrived at Engwa on the 9th of November following. I found the railing which had been placed round the grave of poor captain Pearce washed away by the rains, and the piece of wood on which I had myself cut out his name, age, &c. and the day on which he died, either taken off by the natives, or also washed away by the rains. The only means by which I recognized the spot was the appearance of the earth, on which there was no vegetation, and its having sunk five or six inches. I went to the chief, and giving him half a yard of blue damask, and a pair of scissors, entreated him to build a house over the spot, and have it thatched, promising to send him a present from England in a short time, if he did it. He promised faithfully to erect a house as soon as the rains were over.

Nov. 12th.—Arrived at Jennah this afternoon, and found the grave of Dr. Morrison to be in a perfect condition. The king had had it kept in excellent order, and was to have been rewarded by Mr. Houston, who himself died shortly afterwards at Accra. In this city the horses the kings of Wowwow and Khiama had given me, unfortunately died.

Remained two days at Jennah, when we proceeded, and on the 21st entered Badagry; all the natives on the road from Kano having behaved remarkably well to us. The country traversed was swampy, and full of water the greatest part of the way, which rendered travelling tedious and unpleasant.

The king was glad to see me, gave me his own house, constructed of bamboo, whilst he himself, much against my inclination, resided in a small miserable mud hut. Like every other prince on the road, he was grieved to learn the decease of my master. I gave him my little horse, which I had brought the whole of the way from Soccatoo, and all the articles for presents that were left, consisting of two yards of light blue damask, and the same quantity of scarlet ditto, two yards of scarlet and blue silk, and two dozen pair of stockings.

On the 28th I waited on captain Morrison, a Portuguese slave-merchant, and obtained from him goods amounting to ninety-four dollars; and a barrel of gunpowder, which cost a doubloon, I paid for myself.

Three of the Portuguese slave-merchants residing at Badagry, went to the king one day, and told him and his principal men that I was a spy sent by the English government, and if suffered to leave, would soon return with an army and conquer their country. This the credulous people believed, and I was treated with coldness and distrust by the king and his subjects, who seldom came to see me. All the chief men at length assembled at the fetish hut, and having come to a resolution that I was to drink a fetish, sent for me to appear before them. On my way five or six hundred people gathered round me, and I could proceed with difficulty. A great number of them were armed with hatchets, bows and arrows, and spears; and waited outside the hut till I came out. On entering one of the men presenting me with a bowl, in which was about a quart of a liquid much resembling water, commanded me to drink it, saying, “If you come to do bad, it will kill you; but if not, it cannot hurt you.” There being no resource, I immediately, and without hesitation, swallowed the contents of the bowl, and walked hastily out of the hut, through the armed men, to my own lodgings, took powerful medicine and plenty of warm water, which instantly ejected the whole from my stomach, and I felt no ill effects from the fetish. It had a bitter and disagreeable taste, and I was told almost always proved fatal.

When the king and chief men found, after five days, that the fetish had not hurt me, they became extremely kind, and sent me presents of provisions, &c. daily, and frequently said I was protected by God, and that it was out of the power of man to do me an injury.

I remained at Badagry two months, but was advised by the king never to go out unarmed, as the Portuguese took no pains to conceal their inveterate dislike to me; and would no doubt assassinate me the first opportunity that might present itself. Several persons in canoes passed repeatedly from Badagry to Cape Coast, but although I offered to reward them, I could never get them to take a note for me to the latter place, so active had been the exertions of the Portuguese to debar me from every means of communicating with my countrymen.

There were five factories at Badagry, in which were upwards of one thousand slaves of both sexes, chained by the neck to each other, waiting for vessels to take them away.

Captain Morris, of the brig Maria, of London, hearing of my being at Badagry, kindly came from Whydah to fetch me, and on the 20th of January I went on board, and arrived at Cape Coast on the 31st of the same month. Here I gave my faithful slaves, Aboudah, Jowdie, and Pascoe’s wife their freedom, who testified their sorrow on my departure by heaping sand on their heads, and other marks of grief peculiar to the African race. Colonel Lumley generously promised to give them pieces of ground and a small sum of money, and I have no doubt they will do well.

Sailed from Cape Coast in the Esk sloop of war February 3d. and arrived in England the 30th of April following.

THE END.