Chapter I (2)

_Monday, March 29th._—Last night a Fantee was plundered of his effects, and stabbed by an assassin below the ribs, so that his life is despaired of; and not long after this was discovered, a ‘fetísh’ (religious rite) was performed over the remains of a native that had been found dead, but who was in perfect health a few hours before. The lament of the relatives of the deceased was doleful in a high degree; and no sounds could be more dismally mournful than those shrieked forth by them on the occasion. The chief summoned us yesterday to repair to his residence in order finally to settle the business relative to our journey into the interior, but we refused to have any disputes with him on the Sabbath, and promised to wait on him this morning instead. After breakfast, therefore, we redeemed our pledge, by paying him the promised visit. Adooley received us with his accustomed politeness and gracious smile. He said he wished to inform us of his intention of detaining us at Badágry a day or two longer, the ‘path’ not being considered in a fit state for travelling, rather than his reputation should suffer by leading us into danger, which would undoubtedly be the case if he had not adopted his present resolution. Yet, he continued, we might depend on his word as a king that we should have liberty to depart on Thursday morning next at the latest. Now we well knew that the country was never in a more peaceable or quiet state than at the moment he was speaking; and are mortified beyond measure at the perpetual evasions and contradictions of this chief. We regret also that the dry season is fast drawing to a close, and that we shall be obliged to travel in the rainy months. When Adooley had made this declaration, he requested us to write on paper in his presence for a few things which he wished to procure either from Cape Coast Castle, or from England, as a return for the protection he had promised us. Amongst other articles enumerated, are ‘four regimental coats, such as are worn by the King of England, for himself, and forty less splendid than these, for the use of his captains; two long brass guns, to run on swivels; fifty muskets, twenty barrels of gunpowder, four handsome swords, and forty cutlasses;’ to which are added, ‘two puncheons of rum, a carpenter’s chest of tools, with oils, paints, and brushes,’ the chief himself boasting that he was a blacksmith, carpenter, painter, and indeed every trade but a tailor. Besides these trifles he wished to obtain a half-dozen rockets, and a rocket gun, with a soldier from Cape Coast, capable of undertaking the management of it. And lastly, he modestly ordered two puncheons of cowries to be sent him, ‘for the purpose of defraying in part the expenses he had incurred in repelling the attacks of the men of Porto Novo, Attà, and Juncullee, the tribes inhabiting those places having made war upon him for allowing Captain Clapperton’s last mission to proceed into the interior without their consent. We asked, jocosely, whether Adooley would be satisfied with these various articles, when, having considered for a few moments, and conversed aloud to a few of his chiefs that were in the apartment at the time, he replied that he had forgotten to mention his want of a large umbrella, four casks of grape shot, and a barrel of flints, which having also inserted in the list, the letter was finally folded and sealed. It was then delivered into the hands of Adooley, who said that he should send it by Accra, one of his head men, to Cape Coast Castle, and that the man would wait there till all the articles should be procured for him. If that be the case, we imagine that Accra will have a very long time to wait.

Our interpreter, old Hooper, having been suspected by the chief to be in our interest, a young man named Tookwee, that understood a little English, was sent for, and commanded to remain, during the whole conference, in order to detect any error that Hooper might make, and to see that everything enumerated by the chief should be written in the list of articles.

During this long and serious conversation, we were occasionally enlivened by the music of three little bells, which were fastened to the tails of the same number of cats by a long string, and made a jingling noise whenever the animals thought proper to divert themselves. Besides these, and as an accompaniment to them, we were favoured with the strains of an organ, which instrument a little boy was placed in a corner of the apartment purposely to turn.

A young Jenna woman came to visit us this forenoon, accompanied by a female friend from Hàussa. Her hair was traced with such extraordinary neatness, that we expressed a wish to examine it more minutely. The girl had never beheld such a thing as a white man before, and permission was granted with a great deal of coyness, mixed up perhaps with a small portion of fear, which was apparent as she was slowly untying her turban. No sooner, however, was our curiosity gratified, than a demand of two hundred cowries[4] was insisted on by her companion, that, it was alleged, being the price paid in the interior by the male sex to scrutinize a lady’s hair. We were obliged to conform to the established custom, at which the women expressed themselves highly delighted. The hair which had excited our admiration was made up in the shape of a hussar’s helmet, and very ingeniously traced on the top. Irregular figures were likewise braided on each side of the head, and a band of worked thread, dyed in indigo, encircled it below the natural hair, which seemed by its tightness and closeness to have been glued fast to the skin. This young Jenna woman is by far the most interesting, both in face and form, of any we have seen since our landing, and her prettiness is rendered more engaging by her retiring modesty and perfect artlessness of manners, which, whether observed in black or white, are sure to command the esteem and reverence of the other sex. Her eyelids were stained with a bluish-black powder, which is the same kind of substance, I have no doubt, as that described in a note in Mr. Beckford’s ‘Vathek.’ Her person was excessively clean, and her apparel flowing, neat, and graceful. Before taking leave, the girl’s unworthy companion informed us that her _protégée_ was married; but that as her husband was left behind at Jenna, she would prevail on her to visit us in the evening after sunset. Of course we expressed our abhorrence of the proposal, and were really grieved to reflect that with so much meekness, innocence, modesty, and beauty, our timid friend should be exposed to the wiles of a crafty and wicked woman.

We have longed to discover a solitary virtue lingering amongst the natives of this place, but as yet our search has been ineffectual.

As a contrast to the youthful individual described above, an old withered woman entered our residence in the evening, and began professing the most unbounded affection for my brother and self. She had drank so much rum that she could scarcely stand; was the owner of a most forbidding countenance; and four of her front teeth had disappeared from her upper jaw, which caused a singular and disagreeable indention of the upper lip. We were disgusted with the appearance and hateful familiarity of this ancient hag, who had thus paid so ill a compliment to our vanity, and subsequently we forced her out of the yard without any ceremony.

We shot a hawk this evening which was hovering over our house, at the request of several of the natives, who ate the body of the bird, but preserved its head and claws, to render them ‘keen of eye, and swift of foot.’ The king will not allow us to go to Jenna by the nearest beaten path, on the plea that as sacred fetísh land would lie in our way, we should die the moment we should tread upon it.

_Tuesday, March 30th._—The occurrences of this day may be related in very few words. The pleasantest news we hear, is the fact of the king of Jenna having arrived at that town from Katunga. His messenger arrived here this morning, and came to see us in the afternoon, accompanied by a friend. We regaled him with a glass of rum, according to our general custom, the first mouthful whereof he squirted from his own into the mouth of his associate, and _vice versâ_. This is the first time we have witnessed this dirty and disgusting practice. The chief sent for us again this afternoon, and summed up the measure of his exorbitant demands by requesting a gun-boat, with a hundred men from England, and a few common tobacco-pipes for his own private use. We could easily give a bill for the former; but the latter we dared not part with at any risk, because, considering the long journey before us, we are convinced we have nothing to spare; indeed, it is our opinion that the presents will all be exhausted long before it be completed. With the same facility we have written a paper for forty ounces of gold to be distributed amongst the chief of English Town and the rest of our partisans. We had adjusted these little matters to the apparent satisfaction of all parties, when we were most agreeably surprised by an assurance from the chief that we shall quit this place to-morrow afternoon with the newly-arrived Jenna messenger. We are accordingly on the _qui vive_ in getting everything in a state of forwardness for our departure; nor can we help wishing, for the sake of our credit, that we may never meet such needy and importunate friends as have pestered us since our residence in this town.

The soil of Badágry consists of a layer of fine whitish sand over loam, clay, and earth. The sand is so soft and deep, that no one can walk on it without considerable labour and difficulty. The natives procure the necessaries of life chiefly by fishing, and the cultivation of the yam and Indian corn. In the former employment they use nets and spears, and likewise earthen pots, which they bait with the palm nut. These novel instruments are furnished with small apertures, not unlike those of a common wire mouse-trap. Oranges, limes, cocoa-nuts, plantains, and bananas, are produced in abundance in the neighbourhood. The better sort of people are possessed of a small kind of bullock, with sheep, goats, and poultry; the chief himself is a drover and butcher, and when in want of money, he orders one of his bullocks to be slaughtered and publicly sold in the market. The dwellings of the inhabitants are neatly constructed of bamboo, and thatched with palm leaves. They contain several apartments, all of them on the ground-floor. Some of the houses or huts are built in the _coozie_ form, which is nearly round, and others are in the form of an oblong square; all have excellent yards attached to them, wherein lime-trees and others are planted in rows, and it gives one pleasure to look at the cleanliness and taste which prevail in these courts. The land is excessively fertile; and if the natives could only be induced to lay aside their habitual indolence, and the sluggishness of their characters, and devote a little more attention to the improvement of the soil, the country might soon be brought to an extraordinary pitch of beauty and perfection. As it is, vegetation springs forth spontaneously, is luxuriant even to rankness, and is ever pleasingly verdant.

If a view of Badágry and its environs could anywise be obtained, we are persuaded it would be delightful in the extreme; but the ground is everywhere so low and flat, that not a single eminence, however small, can be discovered. Owing to the peculiarity of our situation, and the short time we have been with the natives, it is not to be supposed that we could have formed any very correct estimate of their manners, or general character. It is likely enough that we have seen only the dark side of their dispositions, for we have been considered by them as a kind of mark for the exercise of their cunning and other evil propensities, and they have played off their chicanery on us with advantage to themselves. Had we seen a single good-natured man amongst them, it would give us great pleasure to relate the fact; but really we have not been so fortunate—we have met with nothing but selfishness and rapacity from the chief to the meanest of his people. The religion of Badágry is Mohammedanism, and the very worst species of paganism, that which sanctions and enjoins the sacrifice of human beings, and other abominable practices, and the worship of imaginary demons and fiends. By some means many of the inhabitants have picked up a number of English words, which school-boys and children at home would style ‘very naughty;’ and these are made use of at all times without any particular meaning being attached to them. We have observed one virtue in the younger branches of the community—it is the profound respect and reverence which they entertain for their elders, and which has perhaps never been surpassed in any age or country, not even amongst the ancient Spartans themselves.

ADOOLEY, CHIEF OR KING OF BADAGRY.

_Addalé_, or _Adooley_, as he is more generally called, is the present ruler of Badágry, and younger brother to the late chief of Lagos. During the lifetime of his father, and for countless ages before that period, Badágry was a province of Lagos, and tributary to it, as Lagos is, and has been from time immemorial, to the powerful king of Benin. Adooley evinced in early youth an active and ingenious disposition, and an extraordinary fondness for mechanical employments and pursuits. This bias of Adooley soon attracted the attention and notice of his father, and this revered parent did all that his slender means afforded of cherishing it, and of encouraging him to persevere in his industrious habits. Whilst yet a boy, Adooley was a tolerable carpenter, smith, painter, and gunner. He soon won the admiration of his father, who displayed greater partiality and affection for him than for either of his other children, and on his death-bed nominated this favourite son his successor, to the exclusion of his first-born, which is against the laws of the country; the eldest son being invariably understood as the legitimate heir. For some time after his decease, however, no notice was taken of the dying request of the Lagos chieftain; his eldest son ruled in his stead, notwithstanding his last injunction; and Adooley, for a few years, wisely submitted to his brother without murmuring or complaint. The young men at length quarrelled; and Adooley, calling to remembrance the words and wishes of his father, rose up against the chief, whom he denominated an usurper; and vehemently called upon his friends to join him in disputing his authority, and endeavour to divest him of his power and consequence. All the slaves of his deceased parent, amongst whom was a great number of Hàussa Mallams; all who bore any personal dislike to the ruling chief, or were discontented at his form of government; those who preferred Adooley, and the discontented of all ranks, formed themselves into a strong body, and resolved to support the pretensions of their favourite. The brothers agreed to decide the quarrel by the sword, and having come to a general engagement, the partisans of the younger were completely routed, and fled with their leader before the victorious arms of the opposing party.

Fearing the result of this contest, Adooley, with a spirit of filial piety, which is not rare amongst savages, and is truly noble, dug out of the earth, wherein it had been deposited, the skull of his father, and took it along with him in his flight, in order that it might not be dishonoured in his absence, for he loved his father with extraordinary tenderness, and cherished his memory as dearly as his own life. The headless body of the venerable chief, like those of his ancestors, had been sent to Benin, in order that its bones might adorn the sacred temple at that place, agreeably to an ancient and respected custom which has ever been religiously conformed to and tenaciously held by the Lagos people. But Adooley displayed at the same time another beautiful trait of piety and filial tenderness. At the period of his defeat he had an aged and infirm mother living, and her he determined to take with him, let the consequences be what they might. With his accustomed foresight he had previously made a kind of cage or box, in case there should be a necessity for removing her. His father’s skull having been disinterred and secured, he implored his mother to take immediate advantage of this cage, as the only means of escaping with life. She willingly acceded to her son’s request, and was borne off on the shoulders of four slaves, to a village not far distant from Lagos, accompanied by Adooley with his fugitive train, where they imagined themselves secure from further molestation. In this opinion, however, they were deceived; for the more fortunate chief, suspicious of his brother’s intentions, and dreading his influence, would not suffer him long to remain in peace; but drove him out soon after, and hunted him from place to place like a wild beast. In this manner, retreating from his brother, he at last reached the flourishing town of Badágry, and being quite wearied with his exertions and fatigues, and disheartened by his misfortunes, he set down his beloved mother on the grass, and began to weep by her side. The principal people of the town were well acquainted with his circumstances, and admiring the nobleness of his sentiments, they not only pitied him, but resolved to protect and befriend him to the last.

For this purpose they presently invited him to attend a council which they had hastily formed. When in the midst of them, perceiving tears falling fast down his cheeks, they asked him why he wept so? ‘Foolish boy,’ said they, ‘wipe away those tears, for they are unworthy of you, and show yourself a man and a prince. From this moment we adopt you our chief; you shall lead us on to war, and we will fight against your brother, and either prevail over him or perish. Here your mother may dwell in safety, and here your father’s skull shall be reverenced as it ought to be. Come, then, lay aside your fears, and lead us on against your enemies.’ These were in the bush, and hovering near Badágry, when Adooley and his generous friends sallied out against them. The fighting, or rather skirmishing, lasted many days; and many people, it is said, were slain on both sides. But the advantage was decidedly in favour of the Badágrians, whose superior knowledge of the district and the secret paths of the wood was of considerable service to them, enabling them to lay in ambush and attack their enemies by surprise. The Lagos people at length gave up the unequal contest in despair, and returned to their own country. Adooley was thus left in quiet possession of an important and influential town, which declared itself independent of Lagos for ever. Since then, various unsuccessful attempts have been made to compel the Badágrians to return to their allegiance. The latter, however, have bravely defended their rights, and in consequence their independency has been acknowledged by the neighbouring tribes.

In the year 1829, the warlike chief of Lagos died; and Adooley, conceiving it to be a favourable opportunity for the re-assertion of his claims to the vacant ‘stool,’ as it is called, determined to do so, and assembled his faithful Badágrians for the purpose of making an attack on his native town. He imagined that, as his brother was dead, he should experience little opposition from his countrymen; but he soon discovered that he had formed an erroneous opinion, for almost at his very outset he met with a stout resistance. His brother had left an infant son, and him the people declared to be the legitimate heir, and unanimously resolved to support.

The sanguine invaders were repulsed and entirely defeated, notwithstanding their tried bravery and utter contempt of danger, and were forced to return home in confusion, without having accomplished any thing. In this unfortunate expedition Bombanee and all the principal warriors were slain. A similar attempt has since been made on Lagos more than once, and with a similar result. On our arrival at Badágry, Adooley was but just recovering from the effects of these various mortifications and other disasters; and singular enough, he has had the artfulness, as we have before said, of laying the whole blame of them to his having permitted the last African mission to pass through his territories, contrary to the wishes of his neighbours, and those who were interested in the matter.

Justice is not unfrequently administered at Badágry by means of a large wooden cap, having three corners, which is placed on the head of a culprit at the period of his examination. This fantastic work of mechanism, no doubt by the structure of internal springs, may be made to move and shake without any visible agent—on the same principle as the enchanted Turk, or any other figure in our puppet-shows. It is believed the native priests alone are in the secret. When this cap is observed to shake whilst on the head of a suspected person, he is condemned without further evidence being required; but should it remain without any perceptible motion, his innocence is apparent, and he is forthwith acquitted. The fame of this wonderful cap makes a great fuss in the town, and as many marvellous stories are told of it here as were related in England a century or two ago of the famous brazen head of Roger Bacon.

A respectable man, the chief of French Town, was tried by the ordeal of the cap a short time since, for having, it was alleged, accepted a bribe of the Lagos chieftain to destroy Adooley by poison. The fatal cap was no sooner put on his head than it was observed to move slightly, and then to become more violently agitated. The criminal felt its motion, and was terrified to such a degree, that he fell down in a swoon. On awaking, he confessed his guilt, and implored forgiveness, which was granted him by Adooley, because, it was said, of his sorrow and contrition, but really, no doubt, of his birth and connexions.

During our stay at Badágry, the thermometer of Fahrenheit has ranged between 86° and 94° in our hut, being oftener stationary nearer the latter than the former.