Chapter VI: 105

Gregapojee--Extensive Market at--Native Produce and European
Manufactures--Popoe Beads, their Value; probable Origin of--Houses--
Situation and Soil of Gregapojee--Fish--Alligators--Population--Return
to Ahguay, and thence to
Whydah--Toll-house--Fish-trap--Travelling Canoe--Beautiful
Scenery of the Lagoon--Oysters growing to Trees--Old
Ferryman--Gibbets of three Criminals--Murder committed
by them--The English Fort at Whydah--Character of M.
de Suza--Treatment of Slaves--Hints with reference to
this odious Traffic--Price of Slaves--Slave Hunts--Necessity
for Education--Cruelty in the Shipment of Slaves--Visit to
Avoga--Account of him--Reception by him--Mode of Riding--Bad
Road--Reason for not Repairing it--Market at Whydah--Native
Manufactures, &c.--Duties imposed by the King of
Dahomey--His Enormous Revenue--Head Money--System of
Government--Severe Laws, and their Result--Paganism--Abject
Superstition of the Natives--Dangerous to show Contempt
for their Fetish--Anniversary Offerings for departed
Friends--Usual Termination of such Festivals--Snake Worship--Houses
built to contain them--The Snake-Lizard--The
Field-Lizard--The House-Lizard--Vampire Bats

CHAPTER VII. 132

Locusts--The Winged Ant--Its Destructive Nature--Horse attacked
by them--Their Ingenuity in Building--Stock--Great
Want of Mechanics--Portuguese Whydah--Emigrants from
Sierra Leone--Their Deplorable Condition--English at the Fort
of Whydah--Military Resources of Dahomey--Polygamy--Mode
of Shipping Slaves--Brutality on these occasions--Porto Sogoora--Mr.
Lawson’s Slaves--Greejee--Toll imposed there--Zahlivay--Yakasgo--
Badaguay--The Cabbage Palm-tree--Wooded Scenery--The
Palm-tree--Exploring Visit to the Haho--Misfortunes of Ithay Botho,
Capt. Clapperton’s Servant--Adventures--Curiosity
of the Natives--Podefo and its Market--Alligators--My
Crew mutiny from fear--Hippopotami--Superstition
of the Natives--A party of Fishermen, and their
Fish-traps--Base Conduct of the Fishermen--My Punishment
of them and my Crew