Chapter I: Front Matter

+-------------------------------------------------+ |Transcriber’s note: | | | |Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | | | +-------------------------------------------------+

THE LAND OF FETISH

BY

A. B. ELLIS,

CAPTAIN FIRST WEST INDIA REGIMENT.

AUTHOR OF “WEST AFRICAN SKETCHES.”

LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, LIMITED,

11, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1883.

WESTMINSTER: NICHOLS AND SONS, PRINTERS, 25, PARLIAMENT STREET.

CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER I.

The Gambia--Bathurst--Jolloffs--Novel Advertisements--A Neglected Highway--False Economy--History of the Gambia--Musical Instruments--Burial Custom--Yahassu--St. James Island 1

CHAPTER II.

British Combo--An interesting Conversation--Bakko--A small Account--Sabbajee--Peculiar Governors--The Gambia Militia--A new Field for Sportsmen 19

CHAPTER III.

The Slave Coast--Whydah--The Dahoman Palaver of 1876--The Dahoman Army--An Unpleasant Bedfellow--The Snake House--Dahoman Fetishism--Various Gods--A Curious Ceremony--Importunate Relatives--The Dahoman Priesthood 35

CHAPTER IV.

The Amazons--Trying Drill--System of Espionage--The Annual Customs--Human Sacrifices--The Dahoman Repulse at Abbeokuta--Natural Features of Dahomey--Agriculture--The Whydah Bunting 54

CHAPTER V.

Lagos--Small Change--A Ball--A Cheerful Companion--An Anomalous Sight--History of the Settlement--The Naval Attack of 1851 73

CHAPTER VI.

Leeches--Ikorudu--A Blue-blood Negro--Badagry--Flying Foxes--Fetishes--A Smuggler entrapped--Floating Islands--Porto Novo--Thirsty Gods--Cruel Kindness 95

CHAPTER VII.

The Niger Delta--Gloomy Region--Cannibals--King Pepple--Bonny-town--Rival Chiefs--Dignitaries of the Church--Missions--Curlews--A Night Adventure--A Bonny _Bonne Bouche_ 111

CHAPTER VIII.

Old Calabar--Duke Town--Capital Punishments--Moistening the Ancestral Clay--A surgeon’s Liabilities--Man-eaters--A Mongrel Consul--Curious Judgments 131

CHAPTER IX.

Sierra Leone--More Civility--Cobras--A Guilty Conscience--Naval Types--Freetown Society--A Musical Critic--The Rural Districts--A British Atrocity 143

CHAPTER X.

British Sherbro--The Bargroo River Expedition--Professional Poisoners--An African Bogey--A Secret Society--A Strange Story--A Struggle with Sharks--Startling News from the Gold Coast 158

CHAPTER XI.

Ashanti Politics since 1874--The Secession of Djuabin--Diplomatic Mistakes--The Conquest of Djuabin--The Importation of Rifles--The Attempt on Adansi--The Salt Scare--The Mission to Gaman and Sefwhee--Dissensions in Coomassie--The War Party 178

CHAPTER XII.

Cape Coast--The Panic--The Golden Axe--Preparations for Defence--Ansah--A Divided Command--A Second Message from the King--Native Levies--Ordered to Anamaboe 207

CHAPTER XIII.

A Teacher of the Gospel--Anamaboe--A Third Message from the King--Affairs in Coomassie--Downfall of the War Party--False Rumours--Arrival of the Governor--A Fourth Message from the King--Further Complications 227

CHAPTER XIV.

Arrival of Reinforcements--Sanitary Condition of Cape Coast--Culpable Neglect--Meeting of Chiefs--The Messengers from Sefwhee--Expedition to the Bush--Its Effect upon the Ashantis 251

CHAPTER XV.

A Trip to Prahsu--Mansu--A Fiendish Réveille--Bush Travelling--Prahsu--The King of Adansi--Masquerading Costumes--The Camp--Strength of the Expedition 267

CHAPTER XVI.

Regulating the Sun--Arrival of the Ashanti Embassy--The Palaver--Ciceronian Eloquence--A Diplomatic Fiction--A Beautiful Simile--Physiognomies--Unhealthiness of the Camp 281

CHAPTER XVII.

Another Interview--Atassi--An Importunate Investigation--A Shocking Accident--Yancoomassie Assin--Draggled Plumes--An Unintentional Insult--A Scientific Experiment--The Palaver at Elmina--Our future Policy--Recent Explorations on the River Volta 297

TOWER HILL BARRACKS, SIERRA LEONE, _November, 1882_.

THE LAND OF FETISH.